Redemption
by Baby You're My Immortal
Summary: ALL HUMAN. Rose has just started a new high school and meets Dimitri. He's the boy everyone wants, the boy everyone finds mysterious and he's also the boy Rose likes, but he holds no interest in her. How will she overcome this? **COMPLETE**
1. Chapter 1

Redemption

**This is my second Vampire Academy Fanfiction that I've posted. The most important thing that I have to say about this Fanfiction is that it is ALL HUMAN! It's set in a high school in England as that is where I am from, so it's easier for me to write like that. So, Rose and Dimitri are in year eleven which makes them sixteen. I'm hoping to make this the best Fanfiction I have ever written and I am also hoping that you think that too.**

**Full Summary: ALL HUMAN! Rose has just started at a new high school and meets Dimitri. The boy that everyone wants, the boy with the dark hair and the mysterious persona but, most importantly, the boy that she wants, but he's harsh, cold and has no interest in her. How can she overcome this?**

Chapter One

A bright blue sheet embraced me as I fought to stay awake. One thing that I didn't miss from my life with my mother was the fact that she never made me go to school, so I didn't have to be awake this early in the morning, but this was supposed to be a new start for me. Lissa saved me from a life with that woman and she welcomed me into her life, home and her family. All I could be was grateful for having a group of people who care about me so much that they would allow me to live with them.

"Rose, if you get out of bed, you will feel a lot better about being awake" Lissa chuckled as she fluttered around the bedroom, picking up jeans and shirts that littered the floor and then hanging them back up in the mahogany wardrobe that stood next to the door.

"That is not likely" I grumbled, pulling the sheet up over my head and closing my eyes again. Silence fell over the room which led me to believe that Lissa was just going to leave me to get some more sleep, but I was totally wrong. The sheet was pulled out from over me and Lissa glared down at me.

"It's your first day at this school and you're just going to sleep in and miss it?" Lissa asked. Fixing her with a sweet grin, I nodded like an innocent, little school-girl. "Well, I'm not going to let you do that. Get up!"

You see, I'd known Lissa ever since I was four years old when we went to the same primary school. Nobody could believe that we were friends for the sheer fact that she was the little princess with her hair in plaits and I was the little sod who dressed as a tomboy, but we clicked. We were separated when we were eleven and went to high school. Lissa went to a high school just a few miles south from where she lived and I went to one just a few miles north. Even though we didn't go to the same school, we still spent the majority of our time together, so when I had that final argument with my mother, she welcomed me into her home. One thing that I had learned in the many years of being friends with this girl was that when she got snappy and angry, you didn't want to refuse her. Things just go…ugly if that happened.

"Fine, I'm getting up" I growled, stumbling from the bed and heading towards the bathroom, so I could get on with my morning ritual.

"Oh, you only have five minutes" Lissa laughed. "Mum's driving us and she has work soon, so you better hurry up." _Oh great! _Not only do I have to get up at a ridiculous hour in the morning, I also have to get ready like an athlete. This day just gets worse. Lissa handed me a pair of jeans that she had just put away and a shirt that was still lying on the floor. It was a plain red shirt with a few buttons trailing the middle of it and my jeans were plain black.

"How long have I got left?" I asked, pulling on a pair of shoes as I turned my wrist a little left, so I could check my watch.

"Two minutes" She answered as she handed me a jacket and stood in the hallway. As soon as I pulled it on, I hurried after Lissa as we jogged down the stairs to see Mrs. Dragomir standing at the front door, car keys in hand with Andre, Lissa's brother, standing next to her and looking in the mirror, making sure his hair looked good enough.

Andre was very much into his appearance and he was very into the idea that most girls in that school would be in love with him. It didn't bother me, though. He looked brilliant and I can admit that. Heck, he's had me blushing a few times when he's kissed my cheek and complimented me, but that's just the kind of guy he is. He'll always be the cheeky guy who makes you feel like you're walking on air.

"Are you ready, Rose" Rhea asked, a warm smile playing at her lips as she took my hands in her own and leaned closer to me. "Are you sure you're ready to go in there? I know this is going to be difficult for you to do, but Lissa will be by your side the whole time and if you have any problems, just tell me and I'll go straight in and I'm sure Andre wouldn't mind sticking up for you."

Rhea Dragomir was practically my own mother and I've thought that ever since I was a young child. She really cared about me whereas my own just wanted to be rid of me, wanted to travel the world and do her own thing. As much as Rhea cared, I still wished she would learn that I was a pretty strong person. She often forgets that I was expelled from my old school for violence.

"Thank you, Rhea, but I'll be okay there. After two minutes of talking to me, they'll realise that I'm not to be messed with" I teased. She raised her eyebrows and gave a hopeless shake of her head.

"I do worry about you sometimes, you know?" She sighed. "Please try to give this a go and try not to get violent with your peers. I really do want this to work out for you." For once, a true smile was brought to my face as I gave an eager nod.

"I'll try for you" I reassured. "I want this to work out too. Thanks for letting me stay here, Mrs. D" She gave a small nod, pulling the car keys from her pocket and opening the door for us to all leave.

"Andre, your hair looks fine" Rhea snapped, slapping him over the back of the head before getting into the car. Andre looked at me with wide eyes as his jaw dropped.

"What's her problem?" He asked, smoothing his hair down again in an effort to tame the mane. "She's all nice to Rose and then she slaps me, how does that even make sense."

Lissa gave a loud sigh, pushing him out of the house, so we could get on our way to school before explaining it to him, "She's just been a little stressed lately. She wants to make sure that Rose gets a good start in this school."

"I'm sorry about that, by the way" I called as I finished up locking the door with the brass key that Rhea had given me on the night that I moved in. It had really hit home that I was part of a new family when she gave me that key. My mother, Janine, had never trusted me to have my own key which then resulted in me sitting on the bench outside our house until she came home from work to let me in.

"It's fine" Andre scoffed. "She would have been a lot more stressed if you were staying with Janine. She didn't think you were safe there…none of us did." He opened the car door for me, so I slipped inside sitting in between him and Lissa.

"So, are you looking forward to your first day?" Rhea asked, her angry mood now subsiding as she pulled away from the driveway and fiddled with the CD player to try and find a pop song that Lissa would like.

"Yeah, I suppose" I answered. "I'm just a little nervous. Meeting new people has never been something that I'm good at." Lissa gave me a quick smile as she played with her seatbelt. Rhea looked in the rear view mirror, her eyes catching my own as she turned left.

"Don't worry about it" She reassured. "Lissa and Andre are good friends with most people at that place, so nobody will give you any bother. You'll do just fine." Rhea was the kind of woman who could be telling an absolute lie, but she would still make you feel better about something, just like a mother should.

"Thanks, Rhea" I murmured, focusing on the window at a group of kids with school bags slung over their shoulders. They looked nice enough, but it just managed to make me even more nervous.

"Oh, I should probably give you all the gossip now" Andre spoke as he pointed to the group of people that I was just watching. "See that one in the middle? She's going out with the guy on the far left, but she's cheating on him with the guy on the far right which would explain why he's looking so angry about something."

"Andre, it's not nice to talk about people behind their backs" Rhea lectured as she gave another shake of her head.

"Mum, I've got some pretty good gossip that you would like to hear" Andre revealed. Rhea raised her eyebrows at him, but gave a quick nod of her head to tell him to proceed. "Well, you remember that guy who Lissa used to date, James. Well, he's gay now." Rhea's eyes widened as she whirled around to face Andre.

"You're kidding! When did that…" Rhea started, but Lissa cut her off.

"Mum, keep your eyes on the road" She shouted, her voice cracking at the end. "Jesus Christ, Rose will be dead by the time she gets to the bloody school if you keep driving like an idiot."

"Sorry, Rose" Rhea apologised, a sheepish grin on her face. "Seriously, when did that happen?" Lissa gave a loud sigh, resting her head on her hands as she grumbled something about how annoying Rhea was as she looked out of the window. James was a touchy subject with her and Andre shouldn't have gone there, but he did and now Rhea was intrigued.

"Well, after Lissa broke up with him he started dating one of Dimitri's ex's and then a few weeks after that he just broke up with her and then came out" Andre explained. "It shocked a lot of people, especially Dimitri."

"Who's Dimitri?" I asked. Lissa had now turned away from the window to answer my question.

"He's Andre's friend" She answered. "He's also the guy that every single girl in that school wants and he's also the guy who is completely absurd. He's just big-headed and a total heartthrob which is why you should stay away from him."

"Come on, Lissa" Andre groaned. "Dimitri really isn't that bad and you'd realise that if you'd just give him the time of day."

"I will not give him the time of day!" Lissa snapped. "He's a horrible person and Rose should know this before she falls for him like every other girl in that damn school."

"Vasilisa, you better calm down" Rhea scolded. "Dimitri is a respectable young man and you shouldn't be saying these kinds of things about someone who you don't know very well."

The car fell silent as Lissa glared at the back of Rhea's seat, wishing she had the courage to say more about Dimitri, but not daring to in case her mother went off on one. The car soon slowed to a stop in the car park of the school and Rhea turned to face me.

"Have a great first day and if you do have any problems then just tell Andre or Lissa and they will sort them out" Rhea advised. I gave a small nod, swallowing in fear as Lissa patted my arm in a gesture to tell me that we were going to have to get out now. "Have a good day, kids. I can't pick you up tonight, so you'll have to walk."

"Sure, Mum" Lissa called as she slammed the car door shut and walked by my side. The main building of this school was pretty intimidating. It was white and green, towering over us as we walked through the black iron gates that resembled that of a prison. "Trust me, it looks scary, but it's really easy to get used to and it's pretty simple."

"I beg to differ" I groaned as I followed them to the office in the main entrance. A brunette was sitting on an office chair at the desk with her hair held in a tight bun with a blouse and black pants covering her.

"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked, giving me a sweet smile as she looked up at us. She recognised Andre and Lissa, but I was just another of the many face she would see today.

"Hi, I'm new here" I stated, not really knowing how to explain it all to her or what I was supposed to do.

"Welcome to Seatenview High" She congratulated as she rummaged around her drawers in search for something. "You must be Rosemarie Hathaway. I've got your timetable here and a map for you." She handed me two pieces of paper. One was a grid with a list of room numbers, names of teachers and names of subjects typed up on it and the other was a diagram of the school with arrows drawn on.

"T-thank y-you" I stuttered, feeling a little overwhelmed just by the map of the school that she had given me. Was I really expected to find my way around this complex building! "It was nice meeting you." Lissa led me away from the desk and over to where a set of benches sat in the courtyard. Taking a seat, I pulled out the map again and simply stared with wide eyes.

"Okay, this place is a little difficult to get used to, but you're in a lot of Andre's classes and a lot of mine, so you'll be fine." Lissa assured as she handed Andre my timetable.

"Yeah, the first four lessons you get to spend in my presence and then you get lunch, so I would say that this is quite a good timetable" Andre joked as he took my hand in his. "Come on, I'll take you to English. Bye, Lissa!"

"Bye, Andre" She called. "Good luck, Rose."

Andre led me to a building at the far left of the benches. "Okay, so this is called 'Building Two.'" He stated. "That's how this school is. 'Building One' is on the far right and the lessons that take place there are Languages, History, Geography, History, Religious Studies Sociology and Business Studies. In 'Building Two' they have English and Maths and in 'Building Three' they have Science and all the different technology classes like woodwork. Oh, and then there's 'Building Four' where all the creative people go. They have all the music and drama classes there."

"Okay, that sounds a bit more simple than this map" I laughed nervously as I took out the map and showed him all of the arrows that were drawn on it.

"Ignore the maps" He taught. "They're harder to understand that the actual school is and, more often than not, they lead you the wrong way and then it all just turns into one big mess." We walked up the stairs to the English room that we were in as he talked. The halls were empty as most people were sitting in their classrooms, but the sound of Andre's shoes clicking off the ground made enough noise. "Okay, that's our room" He said, pointing at the one in the middle of the corridor on the left. He cracked the door open and walked inside with a goofy grin on his face. "Sorry I'm late, I was showing Rose here."

"Ah, new student, eh?" The teacher questioned. "Rose, I'm Mrs. Karp. Take a seat next in between Belikov and Andre."

"Can't you just let us sit together for once?" Andre asked, a hopeful glint in his eyes, but Mrs. Karp simply shook her head with a grin playing at her lips.

"You know what happens when you two sit together" She laughed. "As funny as it may have been, I had to pay for the damages, so no."

"Give it up, Dragomir" The 'Belikov' kid said as he cracked a tiny grin. "We've broken her computer, a desk, a bookshelf and ripped up at least ten of her books. She will never let us sit next to each other." _Oh, great. _I have to sit next to that?

"Fair point" Andre chuckled as he pulled the seat out next to him and patted it for me to sit on. Lowering myself into the seat, I stole a quick glance at Belikov. His hair was chin length and a light shade of brown and his eyes were simply mesmerising. He was wearing a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, flashing off his tanned arms. This must be Dimitri.

"Hey, I'm Rose" I greeted, holding out my hand for him to shake. He turned his head to face me with his eyebrows raised. His eyes flickered down to my outstretched hand and back up to my face before he grinned.

"I don't think so" He grunted before turning back to his book and writing notes on 'Of Mice And Men.' My eyebrows furrowed as I turned to Andre, asking him to explain what Dimitri's problem was with my eyes.

"Remember when you said you weren't very good at meeting new people?" He asked as I nodded. "Well, neither is Dimitri. He'll warm up to you soon enough" Even though Andre's words were comforting, I was still pretty annoyed with the way this Dimitri was acting and I knew that as soon as I next saw Lissa, I was going to have a pretty good rant about him because I did not like being ignored, especially not by people who think they're better than me.

"Whatever, if he wants to be a dick then that's fine with me" I laughed, feeling the burn of someone's eyes on the back of my head. Turning to see who it was, I grinned at the fact that it was obviously Dimitri who I had annoyed so much.

"If you have something to say to me then say it to my face" Dimitri said, his voice so deadly calm that it scared me. His eyes were flashing in anger and his hands were clenched in fists. Had I really managed to make him that mad?

"If you want to act like a dick then go do it to someone who cares. You don't want to get on the wrong side of me" I warned, trying to summon up a glare that was as scary as his own, but something told me that he had won this glare contest.

"Trust me, I could say the same about myself" He claimed as he dropped his pen on the desk. "I don't like girls like you who think they can go about being bitchy idiots because they didn't get something they wanted."

"You don't know me at all! Shut up before you say something you'll regret" I threatened. Andre was tugging on my sleeve in an effort to get me to stop, but all I could think about now was making Dimitri feel like an idiot.

"Stop acting so tough" He hissed, a hint of a Russian accent coming through. "As soon as the novelty wears off of you, people will realise you're just a low life who can't keep her anger under control!"

"Belikov, is there a problem?" Mrs. Karp asked, her eyes flashing to tell him to shut up. "I suggest that if you want to stay in this lesson then you shut up and stop trying to start and argument."

"Sure, I'll stop" Dimitri answered. "You might want to have a word with Roza, though. I don't think she's ready to stop fighting yet. Ah, look at how angry you are."

"My name is not Roza" I growled. "Don't call me that ever again." Mrs. Karp looked pretty annoyed with me too which made me even angrier. It was my first day here and I just wanted to get through it and make Rhea happy and some kid ruins it by being a twat and I get blamed for it. How does that even work?

"Rose, you're new here, so I suggest that you shut up before you get a reputation for being a trouble-maker" Mrs. Karp lectured. I nodded and looked down, prepared to just make notes on the book and forget about everything that Dimitri had said. "If you need to move away from Dimitri then you can."

"No, I'm fine here" I retorted. One thing that I cannot deal with is acting like a coward. If Dimitri has issues with me then that's his problem and he has to deal with it. There is no way in hell that I'm going to move because of him.

"If you're sure" Mrs. Karp said. "Okay, everyone get your bags and you can leave when the bell goes." I picked my bag up from next to my seat and followed Andre to where a group of guys stood. One stood out to me. He had light brown hair that was styled in a messy way and his green eyes seemed to light up the whole classroom. He was dressed in stylish clothes and pretty tall, but not as tall as Dimitri.

"Rose, this is Mason, Jesse, Christian, Aaron and Adrian" Andre introduced. Adrian was the one that I was developing a little crush on. He was also the one who gave me the brightest smile and shook my hand.

"Oh, I also just want to apologise for Dimitri" Adrian sighed. "I honestly don't know what got into him there. He's a pretty swell guy and he seemed like he was having a good day. He'll get better, I promise."

"Ah, it's fine, I don't really care about the hormonal git" I said, waving it off.

"Excuse me, these are my friends" A voice said from behind me. "Not yours." When I turned to see who it was, I saw Dimitri towered over me with a hard glare marking his face.

"Look, you're not five. Grow up and get a grip" I snapped as I moved away from him and over to where Adrian stood.

"Rose, I'll show you to your next lesson" Adrian whispered in my ear. "You probably don't want to be around Dimitri right now and he and Andre always walk to Science together." With that, the bell rang and Adrian led me out of the room. What even happened with Dimitri?

**Well, that was chapter one. I'm not sure if that was any good, but I'm posting it, anyway. It'd be great to get some feedback and I hope you guys all liked it.**


	2. Chapter 2

Redemption

**This author's note will be considerably shorter than the first, don't worry. I just want to say a big thank you to anyone who has reviewed, put it on story alert and on their favourites. The reception for this has been great and I would also like to say that I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the last!**

Chapter Two

Science wasn't as…eventful as my first lesson was. Mrs. Kirova, who I learned was the headmistress and taught science, made it a point to remind me every five minutes that I was expelled from my last school which got quite a few laughs from the other students. The only good part of the whole lesson was that Dimitri hadn't tried to speak to me at all that lesson and Mrs. Kirova was smart enough to put me at the back of the room on my own because she was worried that I would beat up whoever I sat next to.

But, now it was break time which meant I could talk to Lissa and tell her everything that had happened in English. When we got outside, the bitter winds cut at my clothes and my face, but I ignored them and took shelter behind the pillar that Lissa was standing behind.

"How were your first two lessons?" She asked, pulling her coat tighter around her body in an effort to shield from the wind. "I heard Dimitri was in them." Her face contorted to one of distaste when she said his name.

"I'm starting to see what you meant when you said you didn't like him" I noted. Lissa gave me a sympathetic look and a half armed hug.

"Was he really that bad?" She asked. Oh, she had no clue how bad. Nodding, I leaned back, so my head was touching the stone cold pillar.

"Yeah, he had an argument with me practically as soon as I walked through the door because I called him a dick" I explained. Lissa gave me an exasperated look as she hit her head repeatedly of the pillar.

"Please, don't do that again" She begged. "It's just asking for trouble. Dimitri isn't the kind of guy that you want to upset. He's never been this bad, though. He'll just be having a weird day today and he takes insults like that pretty seriously."

"Well, he better shut the hell up before he really annoys me" I snapped. "Sorry, Lissa, but he just really angered me with that." She gave me another sympathetic smile before leading me over to where Andre stood with Adrian, Mason and Dimitri.

"Andre, can I talk to you for a second?" Lissa asked. Andre followed her to the pillar and gave her a look that urged her on to explain why she wanted to speak with him. "Tell Rose that Dimitri isn't normally like that. I know I hate him, but I know he isn't all bad."

"Rose, he's just been having a bit of a tough time" Andre explained. "He's been a little touchy lately, but he'll get better soon." His explanation did not make me feel any better. People have tough days all the time, but that doesn't give them the right to act like that with someone.

"What's happened to him to make him like that?" I asked. If it was something to do with his hair, I swear I will go over there right now and kill him with my own bare hands. He seemed like the kind of guy who would worry about things like that.

"Okay, I don't really want to get into this now, but you're looking pretty pissed, so I probably should" He started, biting at his lip in nervousness. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Dimitri would kill me if he knew that I had told someone this."

"What friends can I possibly tell in this place?" I asked, sarcasm dripping from my voice. "I have none." Andre gave me a vacant stare before nodding in agreement.

"You have a fair point Hathaway" He acknowledged. "A few weeks ago, Dimitri's sister died. He was pretty close to her and he just hasn't been right since. She was a lot like you, attitude-wise and I guess you just reminded him too much of her."

As much as I hated Belikov, I still felt bad for him. No one deserved to lose their own sister, but that still doesn't give him the right to get angry at me over something that didn't even involve me.

"Okay, and why was Dimitri so shocked about Lissa's ex-boyfriend being gay?" I asked, wanting to learn as much about Dimitri as I could. I may hate his guts, but that doesn't stop him from being interesting and having an intriguing story.

"Well, remember how I said that James then started going out with an ex of Dimitri's?" He asked as I nodded to get him to proceed. "She's very…willing. Dimitri should know that better than anyone. Put it this way, a night with her shouldn't turn you gay." I cracked a grin as Lissa turned away in disgust.

"Ah, Andre, you always make the most awkward of situations so funny" I laughed as I looked over at where Dimitri stood. His dark eyes were fixed on us, something in them telling me that he knew exactly what we talked about. After all, Andre isn't very subtle. His glare simply hardened when I stared back at him. He was scary, intimidating and hot at the same time. He was someone that I should definitely stay away from if I had any sense, but since when have I ever had sense?

When break was over, I followed Andre to our Business Studies lesson, glad about the fact that Dimitri wasn't in this lesson, so I could be free from him for another hour. The classroom had that old, musty smell as coffee lingered in the air. Even before I saw the teacher, I knew she would be an old lady.

"Ah, you must be Rosemarie Hathaway" She grunted, smoothing down her plaid dress. "I'm Alberta. I don't like the whole Mr and Mrs greetings, so that's all you need to call me. Mrs makes me feeling old." Huh, and here I was thinking the wrinkles, the grey hair and the need for a walking stick was what was making her feel old.

"Nice to meet you" I smiled. "Where do I sit?" She scanned the classroom, squinting her eyes as she peered over the tops of her crooked glasses.

"There's a spare seat next to Andre." She said, pointing to a desk at the very back of the room. "He'll be able to help you with what we're doing now." The grin on Andre's face made me a little wary to sit with him, but I didn't refuse. Something told me that I wasn't going to be doing much work in this lesson. The guy that I recognised as Adrian sat on the desk in front of us and Mason sat at the very front. It was hard to miss him as his red hair just seemed to light up the room.

"Hey, it's Rose" Adrian exclaimed, turning to face me with a large grin marking his face. "Ah, how are things with Dimitri going?"

"Don't even go there" I warned, burying my head in my hands as I let out a frustrated sigh. Something about Dimitri just wound me up. The way he ran his hands through his hair just infuriated me no matter how glossy it was.

"Hey, he's not that bad when you get to know him" Adrian assured.

"So I've been told" I grumbled, pulling a pen from my pocket and making some notes on what Alberta was saying. "I've yet to see it, though."

"Rosemarie, please be quiet" Alberta scolded. Well, I promised Rhea I would try at this place. I don't think arguing with Alberta constitutes as trying.

After the lesson was over, I walked with Adrian and Andre to German. Thankfully, Andre had already warned me that Dimitri was going to be there. At least he seemed as though he was just going to leave me alone now.

"It's just that classroom there" Adrian informed as he pointed to the one at the end of the corridor before holding the door open for me to slip inside. We were the first to arrive and as soon as I entered a male teacher swooped down on me.

"Miss Hathaway, I've been looking forward to meeting you" He claimed, leading me over to where his desk stood. "Your old school told me that you were quite the linguist even if you were kicked out for fighting." He gave me a disapproving look, but still pointed to a seat at the back of the class. I was away from Adrian and Andre which was a little disheartening, but I still took my seat and waited for the rest of the class to come in.

After about five minutes, everyone was in apart from one person. Dimitri Belikov hadn't arrived yet. In the back of my mind, I was secretly praying to God that he had decided to ditch and save me from the anger that would surely arise in me if he was around. Only a minute later, he walked in, looked around the class and rolled his eyes when he saw me. 

It didn't take a genius to work out that I was in the seat next to his. He pulled out the chair, deliberately making sure that it smacked against my own and then sat down. Turning away from him, I focused on everything that Stan was saying in an effort to ignore the burn of his eyes on my neck.

"Okay, the sheet I'm passing around is just a simple fill in the gaps thing" He called as he worked his way around the class, placing a sheet down in front of everyone. "Just work through that."

"What were you saying to Andre before?" A gruff voice asked. He was now leaning forward, not hatred in his eyes, but an intent look hiding there.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that" I demanded. "I talk to Andre a lot." He rolled his eyes again and let out an infuriated sigh. Jesus, that boy has attitude problems.

"At break, Lissa wanted to talk to Andre and I know that I cropped up into conversation" He accused. "Just tell me what it was and maybe I won't think as badly of you."

"Why does it bother you so much, anyways? It's not like Andre is going to ruin your precious reputation?" I taunted. "Or maybe you're not as heroic as everyone thinks you are."

"Roza, I don't care about what others think of me" He retorted. "I just don't like the thought of my best friend talking to a girl that I don't get on with about me. Why won't you just tell me what he said and be done with it. It'd make life a hell of a lot easier."

"I told you before not to call me Roza. My name is Rose" I snapped. "My conversations with Andre have nothing to do with you. They're private. As soon as you get that and understand it then maybe I won't think as badly of you."

"I don't care about what your name is" He argued. "I just want to know what Andre said to you to make you laugh so much" Yes, I said before that I wasn't a coward, but I just wanted Dimitri to shut up and let me get on with some work, so I told him. Not the whole story, but the thing about his ex-girlfriend and Lissa's ex-boyfriend.

"Andre was just telling me about an ex-girlfriend of yours turning someone gay" I revealed, grinning at the mere thought of that. Oh, that must have been a knock to his ego. His eyes widened as he glared hard.

"Okay, you weren't there. You don't know the whole story" He snapped.

"Then tell me" He glared again, but still went on to reveal the true story of what went on there.

"I went out with June for a few months and it was going good. She was a kind person and understanding, but we just weren't right for each other, so we split it off, but still decided to stay friends, but I was always the one that loved more in that relationship, so I was a little mad when she went out with James which is why I'm not on good terms with Lissa either. A month after he went out with her, he dumped her and then came out which pretty much broke June's heart. I was still in love with her at the time, so it was hard for me to see her like that." He babbled.

"Sorry I even asked" I cut off as I shook my head. "That sounds pretty messed up." Dimitri slammed his pen down, rolling his sleeves up before burying his head in his hands.

"Like you'd understand" He complained, his voice muffled. "You've had an easy life, desperate to make it sound as though you haven't" Where did he get off in thinking that he could talk to me like that. He didn't know me at all, yet he still believed that he could just tell me that my life was easy. No, a family member of mine hadn't just died, but that doesn't mean that I haven't had my fair share of issues. Heck, I don't know my dad, my mother doesn't give a shit about me, I constantly feel like I'm intruding on the Dragomir's and, to top it all off, I've got some moron at school who hates me for no apparent reason. That should total out to be a problematic life, shouldn't it?

"Dimitri, I know that I am probably the last person you want to speak to, but you can't say things like that to people no matter how mad you are" I scolded, folding my arms over my chest, refusing to even try with this work because my argument with Dimitri was angering me too much.

"You can't tell me what I can and what I can't say to people" He hissed. "You got kicked out of your last school for violence. Try practicing what you preach before you get on my back for something."

"Yes, I was kicked out of my last school for fighting" I agreed. "But, I would never say something like that to someone who I didn't even know because I do have a shred of respect for those around me."

Just as I finished my sentence, the bell rang and Dimitri shot up. Thank God, I won't have to put up with him for another hour. Andre came charging straight for me with an agitated look marking his face, ruining the good looks.

"Okay, what have you been saying to get him so worked up?" He asked, tapping his foot rhythmically off the wooden flooring.

"I didn't think he was that angry" I defended, grinning from ear to ear. "He just kept asking questions and my answers didn't please him."

"Oh, Rose, I do wish you would just learn when to shut up sometimes" Andre complained, slinging a loose arm over my shoulder. "Come on, Lissa will look after you, so you don't get into any more trouble with Dimitri.

For the rest of the day, I managed to avoid Dimitri and I managed to avoid homework which was always a good sign. Lissa was now leading me out of the school with Andre following us.

"So, how was your first day?" She asked. It was the first time we got to really have a conversation because we didn't get to sit next to each other in any lessons and Adrian just wouldn't stop talking to me at lunch.

"It was okay" I answered, opening the car door and slipping inside. "Just one tiny flaw, but I won't let that get me down." Rhea turned around in her seat at the front of the car.

"Let me guess, Dimitri got to you like he did with Lissa?" Rhea asked, smirking as she waited in the car park.

"Yeah, who are you waiting for?" I asked, confused at the fact that she hadn't started driving yet. Andre was sitting in the front seat and I was by Lissa's side at the back. Should we be leaving now? Just as I had started to ponder the idea, the car door opened and a tall body slid inside, wet from the rain.

"Hey, Roza" _Oh shit._

**Well, this was a shorter chapter than the first, but I think the next one will be a little longer than this one. I hope you all enjoy. Feedback is much appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

Redemption

**A problem in the last chapter has been pointed out. I said that Rhea couldn't pick them up, but she did anyways. Sorry, about that, but I often make silly mistakes like that. I'll resolve and explain something in this chapter, so it all makes sense again and I'll try to make this chapter better than the others as a way of apologising. Hope you all enjoy and the feedback has been great!**

Chapter Three

"What's he doing in here?" I asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but failing terribly. "I told you my name is not Roza, quit saying it."

"It's guy's night" Rhea laughed, enjoying my reaction. "I forgot about it, so I had to take the afternoon off, so I could pick you guys up. Dimitri gets a lift from me every Monday."

"Forgive me for not understanding any of this, but what is guy's night?" I asked, rolling my eyes at Dimitri's smirk.

"Guy's night is when Dimitri, Andre, Adrian, Mason, Christian, Aaron and Jesse spend the night at ours" Lissa explained. Oh, that did not sound good. The thought of Dimitri spending the night in the house that I sleep in made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Yeah, a whole night that you get to spend in the presence of me" He added, smirking so much it made me want to commit. "We can always make an exception to guys night and let you join in."

"Come on, Dimitri, stop bothering her" Andre defended. With one last smile, Dimitri leaned back seeming as though he was going to leave me alone. His presence was still making me feel nervous, so I leaned forward to get my iPod out of my bag, desperate to do something with myself to avoid starting another argument with Dimitri. My hand brush against his which was resting on his knee as I went to retrieve it from my school bag.

"Sorry" I muttered, trying to ignore the burn his hand was causing. I hated that he was the one that made me feel like this.

"It's fine" He grumbled, now going back to avoiding eye contact with me and settling for ignoring me as much as possible. Well, I wasn't complaining. At least he was giving me a break for once.

"So, what are you guys planning for guy's night?" Rhea asked, aware of the tension that was bouncing around the car. "Anything that the girls could join in?"

"Mum, we're sixteen. We don't need to spend time with them" Lissa complained.

"If they want to watch movies and have a few drinks then you're welcome to do so" Andre laughed. Watching movies and having a few drinks did sound like good fun, but something told me that if I was around Dimitri, the drinks just wouldn't be as fun.

"No, we don't" I stated, giving a firm nod just as Rhea turned another corner. "Believe me, I have better things to do with my life than that." The car slowed to a stop, not even a second after, Dimitri had opened the door and clambered out, leaving me speechless and a little hurt. Yeah, I knew he didn't really like me, but was it that difficult to sit in a car next to me? Once I got to the door, I spotted Adrian and Mason sitting on the step with a bag in hand.

"Oh, hey, Rose" Mason greeted, the first time he had actually spoken to me. "Did you have a good first day at school?"

"Yeah, it was brilliant" I said wearily, beginning to get sick of being asked the same question by everyone I came into contact with. Was my day at school honestly that interesting? "Just a few arguments." Using the key that Rhea gave me, I slotted it into the door and unlocked the door before following the guys in with Lissa and Rhea close behind me.

"Okay, before guys night starts" Rhea started, stopping the boys from retreating to Andre's bedroom. "Have you guys got homework?"

"Really, Mum? Make me look like a complete nerd" Andre groaned. "No, we don't. Can we go now?" Rhea took a moment to assess Andre to make sure he wasn't lying before she gave a curt not and they disappeared into Andre's room.

"What do those guys even do?" I asked Lissa as we made our way into the kitchen to get some food before starting on our own homework. She gave ma quizzical look as she picked an apple from the fruit bowl and followed me upstairs.

"I don't really know, to be honest." She admitted. "I know it's stupid, but they tend to stick in Andre's room and they never make any noise. I think they just watch magazines and play on whatever new computer game is out."

"Really? Are they still five?" I asked as I followed her into our bedroom, closing the door behind me. "That's something I used to do years ago."

"Yeah, they're different from other guys" She agreed. "You can guarantee that Dimitri doesn't really take part."

"What do you mean?" I asked, his name simply intriguing me. He's as interesting as much as he is annoying.

"Well, he just never seems to be in the room" She revealed. "It's weird, but he's always in the kitchen, living room or wandering the hallway and looking at those paintings on the wall. It gets a little bit creepy sometimes, but that's Dimitri for you. He's been even worse since his sister died."

"Losing a family member must be difficult" I mused as I glance over at Andre's room. "I can't even begin to imagine the kind of pain he's in right now. I just wish he wouldn't take it out on me. I want to be there for him, but he makes it impossible.

"That's just the way Dimitri is" Lissa assured. "He'll come around soon enough."

"I hope you're right" I sighed, taking a seat on my bed and closing my eyes. It had been a long day. Lissa sensed my weariness and picked the right option in staying quiet as I tried to relax a little.

The sun had set and darkness was beginning to take over, the house settling. Rhea was already asleep and Lissa was drowsy, ready to nod off at any given moment. All the lights in the house were turned off, but I knew that the guys were watching movies. The bedroom door was open, so some light from the moon could get in through the window in the hallway, casting the house in an eerie light.

A crack snapped me out of my daze. The door on the other side of the hallway opened up and a tall figure stepped out. It didn't take a genius to work out that Dimitri was on one of his midnight wanders. Not caring about getting caught, I shrugged the covers off and followed him. I just wanted to know what he got up to on a night. He stood at the painting in the hallway like Lissa said. The stairs were right next to our room, so I took cover behind the banister and watched him.

"You know, Rose, these paintings are pretty darn good" He acknowledged. _Busted. _Standing up from my hiding place, I bit my lip until I could taste blood.

"Um, I was just going to get a drink" I lied, fidgeting with my hands before stuffing them in my pockets. I've never been very good at lying. "Do you want anything while I'm down there?" 

"Don't lie to me" Dimitri teased as he joined me on the stairs. "I'm not bothered about you watching me. You were probably wondering why I was wandering around your house in the middle of the night."

"It's not my house" I said sadly. As much as I love the Dragomir's, this will never be my home. My home should be with my own mother. It's just unfortunate that she doesn't give a damn.

"Don't say that" Dimitri whispered. "These people love you and they want you to feel like you belong here. I'd take it while it's on offer. Things can get snatched away as quick as they come."

"Thanks, Dimitri" I mumbled. "What's with the change of heart on me?" It was the first conversation we had had that didn't seem as though it was about to turn into an argument. It was either because he had decided to give me another chance or he didn't want to wake up the other residents of this home. Yes, the latter was probably correct.

"There's no point in making enemies with you" He stated, nudging his shoulder against mine. "You didn't do anything to me, so why should I act this way with you?"

"So, why do you come and look at the paintings out here?" I asked. The hesitation made me doubt that he would actually tell me. He may have decided that he wanted to be civil with me, but I knew how easily that could change if I got on the wrong side of him again.

"I've done it all the time, but something's happened recently and doing this is just comforting" He revealed, seeming reluctant to share anything more. "I don't deal well with large groups of people either and they're pretty rowdy."

"Is asking what has happened recently crossing the line or not?" I asked as I watched him bite his lip.

"I don't even know" He sighed. "You're different. I don't know you, but I have faith in you. Ah, I'm just babbling."

"No, carry on" I persisted. "You can trust me." He pulled his hood up over his head in an effort to break any eye contact he had with me.

"Well, a few weeks ago someone pretty close to me died and I've just been finding it hard to deal with" He admitted. "You looked like her and sounded like her which was why I was so bitter with you."

"I'm so sorry about that" I comforted, placing my hand on his shoulder in a failed attempt to make him feel better. He gave me a smile as he rested his head against the banister.

"It's fine" He sighed. "I'll bounce back from it. I'm sorry about saying all those mean things to you. I know that you must've been through a pretty tough time too. Why are you living here?" It was only a matter of time before the questions started getting asked. I was a fool to think that people wouldn't be interested in why I was living with the Dragomir's. It wasn't like I could say that I didn't want to tell him because he had just revealed something that was pretty big to me.

"Well, me and my Mum didn't really get on very well." I started, struggling with how to word this. "She just wanted to travel the world and be on her own. Getting pregnant with me was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to her. We'd argue all the time and then we just snapped one day. You can only bend someone so much until they break. So, I left her and Lissa brought me to hers and I just stayed here" I was so wrapped up in telling the story that I didn't even notice Dimitri's arm slung over my shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that" He sighed into my hair. "Come on, let's go get something to eat and you can talk more about it if you want to."

"Food sounds good, talking doesn't" I laughed, following him down the stairs and into the kitchen. He seemed to know his way around this house better than I did. He went straight to the cupboard in the far left corner of the kitchen and pulled Lissa's 'secret stash,' as she liked to call them. She would always have the movie nights and I would be dragged there. The 'secret stash' was where she kept the sweets for the thing. He tossed some over to me and took the seat opposite.

"I can't wait to see Lissa's face on the next movie night" I mumbled to myself as I ate. Being in the presence of Dimitri was a little weird and made me feel somewhat timid.

"Huh?" He questioned. "You freak me out sometimes, Hathaway."

"Ah, you've only known me for a day. Trust me; things can get a hell of a lot worse." He broke out into a tiny smile as he shook his head, his dark hair falling slightly in front of one eye. Damn, he was good looking.

"I look forward to it" He grinned. "If I ever get snappy with you again, don't take it personally. I'll just be having a bad day. I'm not the best at keeping my temper under control."

"It's fine" I assured. "Just try not to take it out on me next time. Your anger gets a little scary sometimes." A thump stopped me from what I was going to say next and soon footsteps were coming from upstairs and Lissa came down, wiping sleep from her eyes groggily.

"What are you doing up, Rose?" She asked. "We've got school in the morning and you need rest. You had a long day, hey, is that my stash?"

"Sorry, Lissa. I was just too hungry." I laughed. She was still looking down, too tired to face the light that was shining brightly.

"Just come back to bed before you get Dimitri another reason to get mad" She started, her eyes then resting on the tall frame sitting opposite me. "Oh, hello, Dimitri."

"Hi, Lissa" He greeted, his eyes flashing in humour. "I'm going back to bed before Lissa gets you in more trouble. "Goodnight, Rose." He threw his rubbish in the bin and disappeared upstairs.

"What the hell were you even doing down here at this time?" Lissa asked in a deadly whisper. "With Dimitri as well. Were you just asking for a reason to be murdered. He hates you. Why are you trying to make him even more annoyed?"

"Lissa, that's not what happened at all." I defended. Yeah, when people start getting annoyed at me, I get defensive and angry. I don't mean it, it just happens. "We were talking to each other and confiding. He doesn't hate me, he was just having a bad day. Maybe Dimitri isn't as bad as you claimed."

"Dimitri is as bad as I claimed" She snapped. "Look, it's the first day that you've ever even spoken to him and he's had an argument with you, flirted and then decided to be friends with you. If that doesn't scream drama queen, I don't know what does."

"You know that he's been having a tough time lately" I argued. "He wasn't even flirting with me. Can't a guy and a girl just have a conversation without people thinking that they're flirting with each other?"

"When it's the guy who every girl goes mad for, it's difficult not to think about that and he's completely up your street. Rose, I know you. You like him and you hate him at the same time. I'm begging of you to just give it some time and don't get close to him." She explained.

"Lissa, I can't do that" I retorted, pulling at my hair as I began to get a little stressed out about the situation. "How's it going to look if I say that I'll be his friend and then just don't talk to him again. It's not going to look good and I don't want to be a horrible person."

"Fine, do you want, but don't come running back to me when it all goes wrong" She warned. Her attitude grated on me sometimes, but it was nothing that I couldn't get over. "Look, I don't mean to be harsh, but I just don't want you to get hurt." 

"I can't get hurt if I don't care about him" I stated. "I don't care about him at all. Don't worry about me. Come on, let's go back to bed." She hesitated slightly before following me back up the stairs and into the bedroom.

"You do like him, though" She laughed. "Don't you?" Something told me that she just wasn't going to let up until I told her the truth.

"He's good looking" I agreed. "Doesn't mean I like him. His mood swings just don't help him at all. He's not my type."

"Sure, I suppose you're right" She replied wearily as she pulled the covers up to her chin. "Goodnight, Rose. Try not to go on anymore midnight wanders for tonight, please."

"I'll try not to" I chuckled, turning over on my side and closing my eyes. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

**So, to make up for the mishap on the last chapter I thought some Dimitri and Rose sweet moments should be included. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

Redemption

**Thanks to anyone has reviewed and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.**

Chapter Four

The sun shone brightly through the skylight in the bedroom. Just as I thought that I could roll over and go back to sleep, a sharp knock sounded at the already open door. Looking up, I saw Andre standing in the doorway with a smile on his face.

"If you want breakfast, you'll have to get up and get it now" He announced. "Mum's making her full English and you do not want to miss that" Well, it was always good to get an early start in the day and food sounded brilliant now, so I followed him downstairs where all the guys were sitting at the dining table. My eyes fell on Dimitri. He was different than he was last night. He was no longer cheerful or even sweet. His eyes were narrowed as they stared at the mahogany table and his arms were crossed as though he was a child who was in a bad mood because they couldn't get something they wanted. God, this was going to be a tough day.

The seat next to Dimitri was the only one free, so I nervously slipped into it and waited until someone started conversation.

"So, I heard that you get religious studies today" Jesse started over the silence. "My uncle teaches that and he told me that your seat is right next to mine. You're a lucky girl" Oh, another guy who thinks they're brilliant. His grin told me that he wasn't serious which made me feel a little better about having to sit with him.

"Good, it'll be nice to sit with someone that I actually know" I sighed as Rhea placed a plate of food in front of me and smiled brightly. "Thanks, Rhea."

After breakfast, the house got busy. Everyone was hurrying around, trying to get some privacy to get dressed and then there was the small matter of the car journey. It was going to be impossible to fit everyone into just one car.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Rhea shouted up the stairs as she stood at the bottom. "You'll be late if you don't hurry up." I sat at the kitchen table as I waited for everyone else to finally get their asses in gear. They soon hammered down the stairs, school bags slung over the shoulders and their jackets wrapped tightly around them.

"What are we doing about the car?" Lissa asked. There were ten people who were supposed to fit in that thing and it was only a five seated car. Well the seats were pretty large. It was possible to fit five people on the back seat, but that was pushing it.

"Um, Andre you and Lissa are walking to school" Rhea said. The look on Andre's face was priceless. Walking involved exercise and he would surely look a little ruffled when he got into school. In other words, walking was Andre's hell.

"Mum…" Andre started, but the look Rhea gave him made him stop dead in his tracks as he pushed his bag further up his back and pulled Lissa with him. "See you later."

"Okay, it's going to be a little squashed, but we can deal with it." Rhea sighed. "Dimitri and Rose if you just sit in the front seat together."

"It's okay, Mrs Dragomir." Dimitri evaded. "I'll just walk with Andre and Lissa. I could use the exercise." He simply closed the door and stalked off. I was so intent on believing that the conversation we had had last night had really made him change his mind about me. Now it seems as though he can't stand the thought of even being around me. Although I had only known him for a day, I knew that this was going to be the last straw for him. His mood swings are freaky and, to be honest, I can't figure him out. It seems as though my kindness towards him is completely irrelevant. He just hates me for some unknown reason.

Trying to ignore the stab of hurt, I slide into the car, ignoring everyone's questioning stares. I feel the need to defend myself to them and to explain that he's not angry with me even though he probably is. I just stay quiet the entire journey and revel in the fact that Jesse was smart enough to steer the conversation away from Dimitri and on to one of the lessons we have to day. I may not know Jesse, but his action just there made me feel as though I was going to live my life in his debt.

When we pulled up to school, I was the first to get out with my thoughts trained on getting some fresh air and clearing my head about the whole Dimitri situation. Jesse followed and took my hand in his for a moment. I wasn't one to let people get close to me and especially not someone who I barely knew, but his touch soothed me. It made me forget about Dimitri and anything else that was bothering me.

"Hey, I know that Dimitri's on your mind" He sighed. I simply came crashing back down. Yeah, Dimitri's name now has the power to make me feel miserable. His hand dropped mine and he led me into school. It suddenly dawned on me that Lissa and Andre weren't going to be here for a good fifteen minutes. What was I supposed to do in a school where the two people are supposed to be by my side at all times aren't here?

"Yeah, he was just acting really weird this morning" I revealed. "I don't get what his problem is with me." When I looked up at Jesse, he was biting his lips as he tried to think of a suitable answer for me, but it looked as though he wasn't going to be able to come up with anything.

"It's Dimitri" He noted. "That's just the way he is. He's like that with me sometimes, too. Don't worry about it, Rose."

"Everyone else keeps telling me that he'll change and that he's just taking a while to get used to me." Well, it didn't really look as though these people were being truthful.

"He could just be trying to get a feel for you. He's weird around new people. The others could be right. He kind of reads people before getting to know them."

"That sounds ridiculous" I scoffed. "Why can't he just take a chance and talk to people normally for once?"

"I don't know" Jesse admitted. "But that's the way Dimitri is and he's never going to change." We headed over to one of the tables that they had under the bridge and took a seat at the wooden seats. The weather had improved considerably since yesterday and it showed that summer was finally arriving. A silence fell over us that I had no interest in filling.

"Sorry about having to walk, Rose" A feminine voice said from behind me. Turning around, I saw a happy Lissa, an aggravated Andre and an infuriated Dimitri. Well, it didn't surprise me that Dimitri was angry. When isn't he?

"Ah don't be" I shrugged off as I flicked my wrist. "It gave me some time to get to know Jesse." In the corner of my eye, I could see Dimitri move over to where Jesse stood.

"Great, is she infecting you now?" Dimitri asked. My eyes narrowed on him as I tensed. Dimitri was supposed to be my friend now, but all he's doing is trying to make my life a living hell now. What is that kid's problem?

"Dimitri, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, determined to deal with the situation maturely. His grin fell and was replaced by a stony glare. He took a few steps away from the group, so they couldn't here and I followed. "What's your problem?"

"What's my problem!" He asked in disbelief "You're the one who's putting on an act when I'm on my own. We were doing good last night, but that meant nothing to you. You said that you didn't even care." So, it was my fault. Guilt washed over me as I averted my gaze to anything, but him.

"I didn't mean what I said" It was a stupid excuse that had been used a million times before, but it was better than saying nothing and just letting him go. "Lissa wouldn't stop asking me questions about it and that was the best way to get her to be quiet."

"Rose, you're lying" He stated. "If you don't care then just leave me alone." He just went back to the group, leaving me standing at the pillar by myself feeling like the biggest bitch in the world.

"Rose, are you okay?" Lissa asked as she moved closer to me. "Dimitri didn't look very happy when he came back."

"I don't care about Dimitri" I snapped "I don't care if he's upset. I'm done with even thinking about him right now."

With a sad look, Lissa whispered "I'm sorry. Cheer up, though"

"I'm sorry, Lissa. I shouldn't have taken that out on you" I apologised just as the bell rang and we made our way to our first lessons.

My first lesson was uneventful. Chemistry with Mrs. Kirova is always going to be boring. She'll make an offhand comment about how I got expelled and then move on to giving us some work that no one knew how to do.

Going to second lesson made me feel a little queasy because Dimitri was going to be there and he was still in a mood with me. Andre wasn't walking with me today and Lissa wasn't in my lesson. I was screwed. A tall figure bumped past me as I was walking. Looking up, I saw Dimitri, his hands buried in his pockets and his eyes trained on the ground. It took everything in my power not the shout at him, but I managed it.

When I arrived at English, Dimitri was already sitting down with Andre just a seat away from him. I sat down, focusing on whatever Andre was saying, so I didn't have to think about the anger that Dimitri was probably going to aim at me during this lesson.

"Okay, we're doing a role-play exercise today" Mrs Karp called over the muttering of the class as she handed us each a piece of paper with a script on it. "Work with the people on your desk and we'll choose a few to present to the class." At least I was with Andre and Dimitri was with Reed. We got out of our seats and began to work through it. Role-play had always been something I had enjoyed because it was pretty much the only time you could mess on in English. Andre was pretty good at it, his body language conveying all of the anger in the world as I cowered away from him, stumbling over my lines like I should be. I took a quick step back, bumping into Dimitri as I did so.

"Would you watch it?" He snapped. "Can't you just stay on your friggin' half?" My eyes went wide as I turned to face him. He wasn't going to let this drop.

"It was an accident" I defended. "Stop reading into things so much." He rolled his eyes, showing me that his attitude problems weren't tamed yet. Turning back to Andre, I continued with reading my lines.

"Is your life based on torturing Dimitri?" He asked as we finished up the first run through of the script.

"I'm hardly torturing him" I whispered, making sure that Dimitri couldn't hear. "It's his fault! He's set on making my life a living misery."

"Really!" Andre shouted exasperated. "Because you both sound like two five year olds who are trying to see how many buttons you can push on the other before you push them over the edge" The class fell silent as Andre took a deep breath. It sounded as though this had been bugging him ever since yesterday and it seemed as though he had found it very hard to tell me what he thought.

"Andre, can you just step outside for a moment?" Mrs Karp asked, her eyes flashing with anger to tell him that he really didn't have a choice. With one quick huff about how it was all so unfair, he pushed past me and Dimitri to get out of the room. "Rose, practice with Dimitri and Reed." As much as I respected Mrs Karp, she was stupid to ask me to practice with Belikov, but I did it anyway.

When Andre came back into the classroom, his hair was ruffled and his eyes were showing obvious signs of stress. Had I really caused that? Something told me that Lissa wasn't going to be too happy about me doing that to her brother at all.

"Andre, are you okay?" I asked once he had returned to his seat and Mrs Karp was asking Mia and Mason to show the class their performance.

"What do you think?" He grumbled, trying his hardest to avoid eye contact with me. It hurt me to know that I had pushed Andre away from me and now he was probably going to hate me as much as Dimitri did. "Look, Rose, I just need you to stop getting into all of these arguments with Dimitri. You guys are both really good friends of mine and I hate seeing you argue. Arguing with him is affecting everyone around you."

"I promise I'll stop arguing, Andre" I mumbled. By the look on Dimitri's face, I could tell that he was listening, but he was choosing to just let me do all the talking. Wow, I knew Dimitri was a lot of things, but I didn't expect him to be a coward.

At break, I had to put up with a mouthful from Lissa, but I knew that it was going to come and I had a few quips for whatever she was going to say.

"Why the hell are you arguing with Dimitri?" She asked, anger flashing through those pale eyes. "You know it's going to annoy Andre."

"Look, I didn't have a clue that it was going to annoy Andre" I argued. "If I had, I wouldn't have done it. You're the one who told me that I should stay away from Dimitri."

"Yeah, stay away from him" She sighed. "Not argue with him into oblivion." Lissa pulled at her hair, looking as though she was getting really stressed over the situation. Maybe living with the Dragomir's was a bad choice. I'm stressing Lissa out, Andre's already been kicked out of a lesson because of me and there's only a matter of time before I do something to get Rhea to hate me.

"Okay, Lissa" I mumbled. "I get what you mean. I'll stay away" With that said, I stalked off. Something told me that she didn't understand that when I said I'd stay away, I meant I'd stay away from everyone. Including her.

The end of the day soon rolled by and I found myself walking out of school with Andre and Lissa, my headphone lying snug in my ear, so I could avoid conversation with them. They didn't try to talk to me. I was an outsider to them at the minute. To be honest, not talking to them was making me feel better. It gave me time to just think on my own without having to be told that I shouldn't be doing this and doing that was wrong.

Rhea's car was parked up near the doors of the school, so I slipped in without saying hello. She seemed to understand that something was wrong, but she respected me enough to leave it. Or maybe she couldn't be bothered with me today. I wouldn't blame her.

When we arrived home, I hurried out of the car and went straight up to the room that I shared with Lissa to get started on my homework. Wow, this must have shaken me up badly if it meant that I was going to do homework.

About an hour later, Lissa finally came upstairs to see me with a guilty look on her face.

"Rose, I'm sorry about shouting at you at break" She sighed. "It wasn't really my place to say anything and I should have stopped myself before I made you upset."

"It's fine, Lissa" I shrugged off even though I didn't feel like that at all. "It's all just such a big change and I'm just a little touchy lately. I'll be back to normal in no time."

"You really do like Dimitri more than you let on, don't you?" She asked. Was she ever going to let that one drop?

"Lissa, can we talk about something other than Dimitri?" I asked, but she gave a firm shake of her head. "I don't know what I think about Dimitri. Right now, I just want to stop arguing with him and be friends."

"What were you guys arguing about today?" She asked.

"He heard me say that I didn't care about him to you" I answered, hoping that it wasn't guilt that I just saw in Lissa's eyes.

"So, it's kind of my fault?" She asked.

"Lissa, you're not the one to blame for my problems with Dimitri" I assured. "I shouldn't have said it if I was planning on getting on with him. Don't worry about it"

"I'm going to fix this if it's the last thing I do" She stated as she got up from the bed and walked out, determination marking her face.

"Lissa, please just leave it" I called. What the hell was she planning on doing?

**I apologise for this taking so long to write, but I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and sorry about making Dimitri and Rose argue more XD**


	5. Chapter 5

Redemption

**Thanks for the brilliant feedback! Hope you enjoy this chapter too.**

Chapter Five

I watched Lissa hurry out of the bedroom and over to Andre's, her feet pounding off the floor as she set off on her own little mission. What the hell was she going to do? Something told me that anything she did try was just going to make the whole situation ten times worse. It took me a moment to realise that getting up and attempting to stop her was probably the best way to go about all of this.

"Lissa, get back here" I hissed as I ran to Andre's room.

"Can you give me Dimitri's number?" Lissa asked him. My face contorted into that of a glare as I stared at Lissa's back in disbelief. She knew that I didn't want any more action with Dimitri and that I just wanted to leave it how it was…at least for now whilst I gave myself enough time to calm down about the incident.

"Andre, don't you dare give her that number" I warned, almost raising my hands in surrender to Lissa. "Lissa, please don't ring him and talk about me. He's had enough of me and I don't even blame him now. I'll explain why I said what I did when he's had time to cool down. You ringing him is just going to make him even angrier with me."

"Rose, it's not" She assured. "Especially not if Andre does it." Why does she insist on not listening to me? She just can't seem to understand that I like to fight my own battles by myself and at my own pace.

"What am I doing?" Andre asked.

"Nothing!" I snapped. "You are doing nothing of the sort."

"What's all the racket up here?" Rhea asked from behind me. "Jesus, Rose, you're becoming part of this family pretty quickly."

"What do you mean?" I asked even though my heart was beating furiously. She was welcoming me into her family and I was now beginning to fit in. Even though I was pretty angry about all of this stuff with Dimitri, I was still ecstatic over the fact that people are really including me.

"You're already arguing with Lissa and Andre like they're your real siblings" Rhea laughed, giving a sceptical look around Andre's room. It was safe to say that his room wasn't the tidiest in the house. "It's like having a brand new daughter in the house. I'm just going to leave you three to sort it out on your own."

As I turned back to Andre and Lissa, I fixed them with a hard glare in the hope that I could scare them into leaving all of this Dimitri business alone, but a warning in the back of my head told me that I just wasn't going to be that lucky.

"Lissa, can I talk to you for a moment?" I growled, grabbing her hand and dragging her out of the room before even giving her a chance to answer. Well, isn't that what a real sibling would do?

"What do you need?" She asked, innocence playing in her voice. Oh, she knew exactly what she was doing. This was the beauty of Lissa's personality. She was the quiet girl who everyone thought was just so precious and adorable, but then she had the side of her that probably made her more dangerous than me.

"You know what I need" I snapped, shaking my head at her out of disappointment rather than fury. "Lissa, please stop getting involved with Dimitri. They're our arguments and we'll sort them out when we're ready" For a moment, she looked as though I had just given her even more fuel to begin on her Dimitri tirade, but her facial expression changed and she looked down. Out of regret or shame?

"You're right, Rose" She sighed. "I'll tell Andre to stop too." She opened the door again and led me back into Andre's bedroom. The sight made me tempted to murder somebody. Andre was sitting at his desk, phone in hand and talking about me.

"Okay, I'll see you in about ten minutes" Andre finally said. Maybe he was calling Adrian or someone else from school. "Bye, Dimitri." Okay, maybe he wasn't calling someone else from school.

"Andre, what the hell are you doing?" I shouted, snatching his phone from his hand and ending the call straight away. "Lissa, did you know he was doing this?"

"No, I didn't" She answered, bur the look in her eyes told me that she was pretty glad that he had. "What did he even say?"

"I just said that we all wanted him to come over, so he and Rose could sit down, talk about their differences and then hopefully make up for good." Andre explained. "He then replied with something along the lines of how he hated fighting with you and he would be glad to sort it all out."

Perhaps this meeting would bring something good and not what I was expecting. If this worked, I owed Lissa and Andre a huge apology.

"Fine, but when he comes, you stay out of the way and you don't keep asking me questions about it" I warned, hoping that they would listen to the rules that I was laying.

When Dimitri arrived, I tried my best to ignore Lissa's stares as he entered the living room awkwardly. "Thanks for letting me come over, Rhea." He had said as soon as she offered him a drink.

"Dimitri, can we just get this over with?" I asked as the Dragomir family cleared out of the living room and into bedrooms. "Right, I need to explain properly about why I said that I didn't care about you."

"Rose, you've already explained about that and I should have just believed you the first time without getting all angry" Dimitri explained. "I shouldn't have even gotten angry about it in the first place. We'd know each other for less than a day and I thought you would actually care about me after I had called you those names in English. You have every right to hate me."

"Dimitri, calm down" I laughed. "First impressions are hard to erase, but you explained to me why you acted like that and it was a damn good explanation. I don't have every right to hate you and I don't actually hate you…you just aggravate me sometimes. The reason I wanted to talk about this is because I don't want to hate someone who I'm going to have to see every day and because I really do think that under everything you've said about me, you are a nice guy."

"Thanks, Rose" He sighed. "Okay, explain why you said you didn't care about me."

"Lissa was just saying some things about you and my feelings towards you and that was the first that came into my head to get her off my back" I explained, feeling a little awkward. The idea of talking to Dimitri about how Lissa thought I liked him wasn't something I longed to put into action. "Honestly, if I had known that you were listening, I never would have said it. I'd rather just put up with what Lissa had to say."

"And what was it that Lissa was saying?" He asked. Oh, this was where it got really awkward. How was I supposed to explain this to him without freaking him out?

"She was just saying that I-I th-thought you were hot like a lot of other girls do at the school and that I had m-more fe-feelings for you than I let on" I stuttered. "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't usually talk about this kind of thing with anyone."

"Hey, it's fine" Dimitri laughed, leaning forward a little in his chair. "I know that you don't have those feelings for me, so don't worry about me believing any of it. I understand it all now. Hey, if you want me to, I can talk to Lissa about this to try and get her to stop. I have a few things I can bring up which will make her rethink getting me angry."

"If you're talking about the whole gay boyfriend issue, then please don't" I sighed. Even if Lissa annoyed me about getting me into saying that I didn't care about Dimitri, I still didn't want to put her in the position that would probably make her a depressed as she was when she broke up with her old boyfriend. She didn't deserve that no matter how much rubbish she got me into.

"Why can't I?" he asked, his eyes begging me to just let him do this one thing. Wow, he really didn't like Lissa for that reason. "Come on, it would only take five minutes and she wouldn't bother you about me anymore"

"Dimitri, Lissa is my best friend" I explained. "She's been there for me ever since I can remember. Hell, she let me live in her house. She made one mistake and that's never going to be enough for it to appropriate for me to upset her that much"

"Well, you wouldn't be doing it, though" Dimitri averted. "I'd be doing it, so technically you're not doing anything wrong. You're simply watching me do it." Jesus Christ, he really wasn't going to let this go.

"I'm not going to let you do that" I argued. "If you have any respect for me, you'll leave it and let me deal with it on my own" He stopped up from his seat, grinning all the while.

"You're lucky that I've just decided to be friends with you again" He joked. "Anyways, is that all that you actually needed me to come here for? Just to try and sort things out?"

"Well, it wasn't even really my idea" I admitted, hoping this wouldn't give him fuel to argue again. "It was Andre and Lissa's, but I didn't want to go through with it because I thought that you'd try and sort it yourself when you felt as though you were ready. You need your space and I thought that doing this would be breaching it."

"You're not breaching my privacy. Trust me, ever since my sister died; I've wanted to get out of the house. My family just can't deal with that sort of thing. All I do is try and be there for them, but there's only so much one guy can do." I hadn't expected him to actually tell me that it was his sister who had died. There was only so much he would reveal to me. He hadn't even told half of his best friends, yet he was telling the girl who had argued with countless times over the last couple of days.

Instinct took over as my arms wrapped around his shoulders and my forehead pressed against his. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but I didn't stop.

"Dimitri, you never told me that it was your sister who had died." I whispered, even though I had already been told by Andre what had went on in the weeks that I was just moving in. "I can't believe that you're dealing with that right now. I'm so sorry."

It took him a moment, but his arms slowly snaked around my waist and held on ever so lightly.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. I'm over the worst of it, but thanks anyways" He mumbled, his brown eyes simply searing into mine.

"What happened?" I asked. "If you're comfortable talking about it, that is" He grinned at me before nodding.

"Ah, Hathaway, who'd think that you'd be so full of respect for other people's feelings" He joked. "Um, she was out one night, pretty drunk and she just didn't have a clue what she was doing. She was so close to home, though. She was crossing the road right outside of our house when she was knocked over. She bled out before we even had a chance to get to her." As he told me the story of what happened to his sister, I found myself wishing I hadn't even asked. It sounded pretty gruesome and with every word he uttered, a fresh tear fell. He had told me that he had gotten over the worst of it, but I could tell that he had been lying. No one gets over the death of someone they love that quickly and especially not if they had been there to see the death.

"Dimitri, I'm sorry I asked" I mumbled, passing him a tissue as he clutched ever tighter to my waist. "Come on, you need to sit down."

"No, I don't need to" He retorted. "I'm just going to leave actually. My family will be wondering where I went. Every time one of us is out late, my mother freaks out."

"Okay, I understand" I comforted. "I'll see you at school tomorrow" His hands left my waist, but slipped up to the tops of my arms and then to my neck. Before I even had a chance to ask what he was doing, he leaned in ever so slowly, his lips only just brushing my own until I pushed up closer to him. I didn't understand what I was doing. I had expressed the fact that I didn't like him, but here I was…kissing the hell out of him. He stumbled backwards, cheeks flushed in a deep crimson red.

"Shit, sorry, Rose" He apologised as he gave a firm shake of his head. "That shouldn't have happened. I'll see you tomorrow" With that said, he just walked out.

After a few minutes of silence, the living room door opened and Andre and Lissa returned with questioning looks in their eyes.

"What happened?" Andre asked as he took a seat that had previously been vacated by Dimitri.

"Sorry, we made a deal that you wouldn't keep asking questions." I mumbled, my eyes drawing up to Lissa's. "Lissa, I need to talk to you."

**Right, probably quite a bad kiss, but they needed something! Hope you all enjoy and thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts.**


	6. Chapter 6

Redemption

**Thanks for the great reviews! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

Chapter Six

"Ow, Rose, you're squeezing my hand too hard" Lissa complained as I dragged her to the bedroom that we now shared, knowing that my palms were sweating. "Would you let go? What happened?" As soon as the bedroom door was closed, I whirled on her.

"You are not going to believe what just happened" I shouted, taking a seat on the edge of my bed. "Lissa, I have a big problem right now. Dimitri is never going to speak to me again" She followed my movements and took the seat next to me.

"Come on, Rose, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think" She assured. "What even happened? If you tell me, I can help you sort it all out." I'd been trying to keep this away from Lissa for the sheer fact that I wanted to feel as though I could actually solve this problem myself, but the idea of unloading all of my problems was just too tempting to resist.

"Well, it started off with just us talking about why I said that I didn't care about him and it seemed as though we were finally starting to get on when he started saying that he was going to get you back for what you said" I began, but Lissa's wide eyes stopped me.

"That boy is an absolute rat" She squeaked. "He really said that about me?"

"Lissa, you're missing the point here" I reminded. "It's fine, though. I managed to talk him out of it. So, he brought up the time when his sister died which I hadn't expected him to do. I hadn't even expected him to tell me about it at all."

"He really did that?" Lissa asked, bewildered. "Was he okay? He wasn't crying was he?"

"No, I don't think Dimitri would ever cry in front of anyone" I sighed. "He's just not the type. I'm sure he was upset about it, but he just didn't want to show it. He told me all about the death as well."

"What happened to her?" Lissa asked, leaning forward in interest.

"She was drunk and got knocked over just outside their home" I answered. "Dimitri said that she bled out before they had a chance to get over to her. I hugged him, though."

"Well, the biggest shocker from that was you hugging him" Lissa sighed. "The way she died doesn't surprise me at all"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, Dimitri has more than one sister, but it was Viktoria who was the real problem" Lissa explained. "She completely upstaged the family. Her mother sent her to one of those Catholic schools as a way to straighten her out, but it didn't work. She became at least ten times more rebellious after that, but Dimitri loved her. He was the only one that she could really talk to. Dimitri was heartbroken when she died. Her mother was too, but Dimitri was on an emotional level with her that no one else was."

"Jesus, I can only imagine what he's feeling" I whispered. "And I'm only making it worse."

"So, was that what freaked you out so much?" Lissa asked, clearly having not heard my last words. "You'll forget about it soon enough and then you can move on."

"That's not what freaked me out" I replied. "When he told me all of that, there was a moment when he just looked into my eyes and I don't even know what happened. God, Lissa, we kissed." I tried to ignore her wide eyes a mouth, but it was impossible.

"How did that even happen?" She asked. "I thought you hated him and he hated you and I thought that the best you could ever be was just friends and I thought you told me that you didn't care for him at all." Her rambling was making me feel even worse than I had beforehand.

"Look, I know I said all of those things and I really shouldn't have" I defended, running my hands through my hair as I shut my eyes tightly in the hope that this would all just go away, but I knew that I wouldn't be that lucky. "Lissa, I shouldn't have said that I didn't care about Dimitri because I do. I don't know what way I care about him, at the minute, but I know that I care about him. I shouldn't have said I hated him because I didn't even give him a chance. I caught him on a bad day and just assumed that he was like that all the time."

"Rose, calm down" Lissa laughed, placing her hands on my shoulders and giving me a little shake. "I'm just a little shocked. Look, there's nothing wrong about the fact that you kissed Dimitri. You're a teenager. You're expected to do things like this even if they are mistakes. It'll just take a little bit of time for you to clear your head, but as soon as you do, things will start looking up." 

"Thanks, Lissa" I mumbled, almost feeling a little sad that I wasn't as wide and clever as she was. "You always know what to say at the right time even if it is sometimes a load of crap." She cracked a grin probably mostly out of the fact that there was a glimmer of my normal self in the joking insult.

"We should probably get some sleep" She said. "Something tells me that it's going to be a very long day tomorrow." 

The next day wasn't how I had hoped at all. I had been expecting something like out of the movies where the guy is chasing the girl, desperate to tell her how he feels and a part of me secretly wanted that. Hell, I yearned for it. Yes, I had a crush on Dimitri. Even though it was only small at the minute, I was still a little upset when he didn't show any interest in me at all in the morning. He just walked straight in and past me as though nothing had even happened. What was the world coming to? What made it worse was that Lissa was watching the whole thing and she looked just as disappointed in him as I was.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked. As much as I wanted to wail and shout at her that I was in no way okay, I simply stood there and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I lied. "It was one kiss. It's not going to be the end of the world if he wants to pretend it didn't happen. It's his loss." I was a fool to lie to Lissa, but she simply pretended as though she believed the bullshit I was feeding her.

He didn't even break the silent treatment in English to yell at me for walking into him or anything like that. Well, at least it made Andre happy to get a little peace in that lesson for once. Even Mrs Karp seemed to notice that something was wrong with us as her eyes kept scanning over the glass and lingering on us, her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed.

When it had almost reached the end of the lesson, I leaned over to his side of the desk and whispered, "We need to talk about what happened yesterday. You can't just pretend nothing happened."

"I'm not pretending that it never happened" He breathed. "I'm just treating it for what it was: a mistake. You should try doing that to. There's no point in talking about something if we don't want anything from it. Just leave it alone."

"I don't care if you don't want anything from it" I mumbled back. "I just need to talk about it, so that I don't go insane" He rolled his eyes a little, a warning that this could turn ugly ever so quickly.

"Look, I'm not going to talk about it, so stop pushing it" He snapped. "It was nothing and the sooner you realise that, the sooner you can get back to sanity."

"Is everything okay?" Andre asked as he leaned over to us. "It sounds like you guys were about to start arguing and you know that you guys made it up yesterday." The tone in his voice was not one that I was particularly comfortable with.

"Do you know something?" Dimitri asked. "Because if you do, I'd rather you just told us instead of trying to act all smart about it."

"I know what your lips were doing" He laughed. My eyes went wide and my mouth turned dry. Who had told him? Who had known about what happened yesterday….Lissa. She had to be the one to have told him.

"You told him?" Dimitri asked, his eyebrows raised at me in surprise and disappointment. "After everything that we talked about and confided in each other and you still went and made your mouth go at him?"

"No, I didn't tell him anything" I argued. "I promise you that I didn't. Dimitri, I'm not the kind of girl to go spreading stuff. I only told Lissa because I believed that she would keep it between us and I really had to talk to someone about it because you clearly didn't want to after you ran out of the house."

"Hey, don't turn this on me" He warned. "I wasn't aware of the fact that I had to be there for you whenever something didn't quite go your way."

"Hey, man, she didn't tell me anything" Andre chipped in. "Don't blame her for things that weren't her fault."

"I never said that you had to be there for me, but you can't be angry at the fact that I spoke to someone about it" I retorted. "You can't expect me to just keep my mouth shut over something that felt important to me."

"Wait, so that meant something to you?" Dimitri asked, his voice hushed, so no one in the class could have heard.

"I don't want to talk about this right now" I sighed, turning away from him and focussing on anything else in the room, but he made that pretty difficult when he grabbed my elbow and made me face him.

"Don't even dare think about doing something like that" He hissed. "You wanted to talk about this, so let's do it."

"Yeah, I did want to talk about this, but not in front of everyone" I reminded. "I was hoping for a little bit of privacy."

"Fine, at break we'll talk about it all you want" He said. "As long as you don't tell anyone about what is said there and that includes Lissa because it's obvious that she can't be trusted."

"Hey, that's my sister" Andre defended. "She can be trusted. It was my fault because I wouldn't stop asking her about it and she just snapped."

"I don't care if she just snapped because of you" Dimitri sighed. "If I talk to Rose and she tells Lissa, you're just going to keep begging for her to tell you and then we'll just have a repeat of today."

"Fair point" Andre agreed. "Rose, don't tell Lissa because I'm not very good at controlling myself at all."

Throughout the whole of Maths, my palms sweated and my head became foggy with thoughts of what I was going to say to Dimitri. I had never really been in a position where I had to really explain my feelings to people apart from when I spoke to Rhea about why I wanted to move away from my mother, but that was completely different to this. I was going to be telling someone about how I felt when I kissed them. There's always going to be an awkward moment in that.

My eyes continued to flicker up to the clock to see how long it was until it was time to leave. Adrian just didn't understand why I was acting so awkward, but he was kind enough to leave me to get on with it. That was the thing that I most loved about Adrian. He never pushed on things and he always made me feel comfortable. With Dimitri, it was constant awkwardness and I was always on edge around him. Maybe I should take some time to just rethink everything.

To soon the bell rang and I was pushed into the yard by the crowds of people. It took me less than a minute to find Dimitri. He was standing by a pillar, almost engulfed by shadows. Wow, he was really going all out on giving us some privacy. Well, this was it.

**Finally, a good cliff-hanger. I hope everyone enjoys this!**


	7. Chapter 7

Redemption

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! Keep them coming! Hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter Seven

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked, leaning against the stone cold pillar and giving him a small smile which was the best I could muster up.

"I think you know exactly what I want to talk about" He scoffed, folding his arms across his chest, his fine, brown eyebrows raised at me. "How about why did you even tell Lissa in the first place that we kissed?"

"Dimitri, she's my best friend" I started. "We share everything with each other and, at that point, I needed someone talk to about what had happened because I couldn't get my head around it and Lissa is always the one who can make me feel better about bad situations."

"Why can't you have just tried to tell someone who you can trust?" He asked. My eyes widened at his words. Was he for real?

"I trust Lissa with my own life!" I snapped, crossing my arms and taking on a posture very similar to his. "She trusts her brother and I can't blame her for that or expect anything less than that."

"You should have spoken to me about it instead of Lissa" Dimitri argued. "After all, I was the one who you kissed and I was trustworthy. The worst thing about all of this is that you don't even realise that you shouldn't have told her."

"What do you mean I should have spoken to you" I asked, disbelief becoming clear in my voice. "You tore out of that goddamn house before I even got a chance to utter a word. You made it crystal clear that I was the last person you wanted to talk to"

"You just had to give me time and then I would have been more comfortable with talking about it" He said. "I'm not used to awkward situations like this and I had just told you about my sister. Excuse me if my reaction wasn't up to your standards."

"Look, Dimitri, so what if Andre knows?" I asked. "He's your friend and he won't betray your trust if you just tell him how you feel. He won't ruin your reputation by telling the school that you kissed the pathetic new girl."

"Oh, don't even try to make me feel bad" He hissed. "There is no way that I'm in the wrong here and there is no possible way that the reason that I don't want people finding out is because you're the new girl. You're a hell of a lot less pathetic than half the girls here, but you just don't know when to shut your mouth."

"Hey, I do know when to shut my mouth" I snapped. "I just like my opinions to be heard and you're a fine one to talk about that." He simply stared for a few seconds without blinking before whirling around and storming off. In the few days I had known Dimitri, I had never thought he was a coward.

I didn't feel up to screaming and shouting after him, so I set off to find Lissa. I couldn't tell if it was because I wanted to shout at her for telling Andre that I had kissed Dimitri or because I really just wanted a friend to be with.

She stood at the other side of the bridge, her eyes holding fear and worry making it clear to me that she had been told by Andre that I was going to be looking for her and that I wasn't going to be in a good mood. As soon as her eyes rested on mine, she gave me a gentle smile and beckoned me to her.

"What do you think you're doing telling Andre about things that I told you in confidence?" I asked, my voice becoming a hoarse whisper. "I've just had to defend you to Dimitri and now he's mad at me again. You're not making it very easy for me to get him to stop hating you."

"I'm sorry, Rose" She apologised, taking my hand as if that was going to please me. "I really didn't expect Andre to even talk about it ever again. He wouldn't stop bothering me about it and I really thought that telling him would be the best choice."

"You still shouldn't have done it" I grumbled, beginning to really need my best friend to just tell me that everything is going to be okay. "You're lucky that I'm upset right now." Lissa gave me a look of horror at the fact that I was upset before wrapping her arms around me in a friendly way.

"I'm guessing that Dimitri isn't very happy" Lissa sighed. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."

"No, it's not your fault" I retorted. "Dimitri's always been a moron. Look at him" I turned her around, so she could see down to the bottom of the courtyard where Dimitri was stalking away.

"Man, he does not look happy at all" Lissa whined. "I'm sure he'll realise that he's being an idiot soon enough and then he'll be sucking it up to you soon enough."

"It doesn't matter if soon he wants to start sucking it up to me because it'll only be a matter of days until he deems it an appropriate time to start arguing with me again." I explained, hanging my head in utter annoyance. It seemed as though there was never going to be a way to get out of these continuous arguments with Dimitri. My life at this school was going to be a vicious circle when it came to that antsy, teenage boy.

"He'll realise that you're the one that he loves and then he'll come crawling back for good" Lissa assured. I was just about to nod and agree with her when I really realised what she was saying.

"Lissa, what the hell are you even talking about?" I asked, my eyes going wide. "There is no possible way that Dimitri loves me. I'm starting to believe that he thinks I'm his worst enemy."

"If Dimitri didn't care about you, he wouldn't be wasting his time arguing with you and then making it up to you" Lissa explained, her smile smug. "Dimitri isn't the kind of guy who goes around kissing a girl he's only known for a couple of days if he doesn't believe that anything can come of it. He's just not very good with explaining his feelings, but he does like you."

"You're crazy, Lissa" I grinned, draping my arm over her shoulder as the bell rang and everyone headed to their next lesson. "But I love you, anyway."

…

The end of the day soon rolled by and I had to face Andre again. Yes, I was incredibly annoyed at him. It wasn't for the fact that he had said what he did to Dimitri, but it was because no one had pulled him up on it. I faced the heat from Dimitri and Lissa faced the heat from me. Surely it's Andre's turn now.

"Rose, before you start shouting the odds at me, I think you should let me explain" Andre said as soon as I walked near him with Lissa on my side.

"I'm not talking to you right now except to tell you that I am so aggravated with you" I snapped. "Why would you even think it was a smart move to tell Dimitri that you 'knew what our lips were doing?'"

"To be fair, Lissa is the one to blame" Andre averted. "She's the one who told me in the first place."

"Trust me, she's already had a mouthful from me" I scoffed. "You were the one who kept pestering her to tell you."

"You make a fair point, Hathaway" Andre sighed as we began to walk out of the school. "I apologise, hun" Oh, did he really think I was that stupid to let him sweet talk me into forgiving him? Ah, it may have worked when I was fourteen, but not anymore.

"Don't even go there" I sighed as we stepped out of the school gates and peered around for the car. Andre stepped out onto the road before turning back to me with a sloppy grin on his face.

"Come on, Rose, you can't stay mad-" Oh, how I wished he'd finished that sentence.

"ANDRE!" I screamed, but it was all too late. It came out of nowhere. A red Passat came flying around the corner and straight into Andre. I knew then that I would never be able to wipe the image of Andre smashing over a car hood out of my mind and never would I be able to block the sound of Andre skidding across the road from my ears.

"Oh my God, someone call an ambulance!" Lissa screeched, running straight out into the road to Andre's side. The car had skidded to a halt and the driver clambered out. He was only young, his blonde hair now ruffled, his head bleeding slightly from the impact, but his eyes were wild with fear.

"Don't just stand there, do something" I snapped, running to Lissa's side. She was sobbing her heart out and pulling Andre closer to her. "Lissa, you can't move him, you might just make it worse."

"What do I do, Rose?" She asked as the place started to fill up. So many of the boys craning their necks to see and so many of the girls hiding behind them as they wept. After all, Andre was popular.

"You've just got to wait for the ambulance to get here and then they're going to take him to the hospital and he's going to be just fine" I assured, desperately trying to keep the fear out of my voice. He looked pretty bad. His head was bleeding and his wrist was bent in a way that it certainly shouldn't be.

Before I knew it, the sirens sounded and everyone moved out of the way apart from me and Lissa. It was all just a haze to me. I couldn't quite block it all out, but I couldn't focus on anything either. I just sat there and tried to watch Lissa get in the ambulance with Andre. A hand closed around my arm and pulled me from the floor. The support was ever so welcome.

"Roza, come with me" A voice whispered in my ear, a hand snaking around my waist to help me walk away. "Rhea and Lissa will be busy in the hospital. You can spend the night at my place."

"Dimitri, is that you?" I asked. Roza sounded familiar and I was sure that it was only ever him that called me that.

"Yeah, it's me" He sighed, pulling me away from the crowds of people. "Roza, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine" I assured. "Dimitri, what do I do? What if Andre's not going to be okay?" He hesitated before he answered, leading me to believe that Andre not making it was a very real possibility.

"We've just got to hope that that doesn't happen" Dimitri whispered. "I can't lose my best friend. I've lost my sister and I just can't lose him." It was at that moment that I realised that what I was feeling was going to be ten times worse for Dimitri. His family was just starting to get over Viktoria's death and now there was the possibility that they would have to deal with Andre's.

"I'm sorry, Dimitri" I cried, pulling him into my arms and just letting him cling to me. I would give anything at this very moment to have Andre back and tell him that I wasn't angry with him and that I didn't really care about the fact that he had told Dimitri. I just wanted Andre back.

**I'm so sorry. Don't hate me :'( Well, it was just a little more added drama. Hope you all enjoyed it, though!**


	8. Chapter 8

Redemption

**I am so sorry for taking so long with this update! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys it all the same and thanks for all of the reviews.**

****Chapter Eight

The tears had finally stopped spilling, but my face was still covered in the now dried up drops of water. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and try and block out the image of Andre flying over that car.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dimitri asked as he unlocked the door to his house. "You haven't spoken at all for the walk home."

"What do you want me to say, Dimitri?" I questioned, my voice cracking as I spoke. "How was your day at school? Do you still hate me? Have you got your report for English done?" His facial expression was one of distaste. "Exactly, I didn't think that would suit your needs."

"Okay, I know you're angry, but please just shut the hell up" Dimitri scolded just as I was about to open my mouth to say more, but his next words made me stop dead in my tracks. "For Andre's sake."

"Oh, great, use his injury as a way to earn yourself some points" I scoffed following him into the hallway. "Jesus, way to be a good friend" His hand gripped at my wrist tightly to stop me from going further in.

"No, that's not what I'm doing at all" He snapped. "Fine, let's go to the hospital. I'll show you how good a friend I really am."

"Dimitri, don't do that" I sighed as he grabbed a set of car keys from the kitchen counter. "He just needs his mother and his sister by him right now. If we were there, the place would be cluttered and we're not needed there."

"Spare me the bullshit routine. I know that you want to go see him because you feel bad about not forgiving him" Dimitri said as he pushed me into the car. "He doesn't need anything right now because he's unconscious. He didn't look as though he was doing too well when we left. There's a high chance that he won't make it through this, Rose."

"Fine, just hurry up" I sighed. "I don't want to waste any of Lissa's and Rhea's time with him. I've done enough damage already."

"Oh, don't even dare start playing yourself for what happened to Andre" Dimitri warned. "As bad as this sounds, Andre brought all of this onto himself. He shouldn't have blundered into the road like that."

"Don't blame him for this" I retorted. "He's paying the price for it now"

…

"Rose, what are you doing here?" Rhea asked once Dimitri and I had found our way to Andre's room. "Dimitri, are you okay?"

"How's he doing, Mrs Dragomir?" Dimitri questioned, trying his best to keep his eyes from Andre's limp body. "Is he going to make it?"

"It…it doesn't look good, you two" She whispered. "There's a chance, but not a big one." It took me a moment to realise what she was saying. How could a car wipe out Andre like that? How could the adorable boy I knew as a kid be inches away from death?

"Where's Lissa?" I managed to choke out.

"She's gone to the toilets" Rhea sighed. "She's not coping very well. She'd want you to be with her" I didn't need to be told twice. As soon as I opened the door, I heard her soft crying.

"Go away!" She shouted. She had her head pressed against the counter, not able to see who had intruded.

"Lissa, it's me" I whispered. Her head snapped up and she wiped her eyes vigorously.

"Sorry, Rose" She mumbled. "I just needed some time away from that room."

"Hey, you don't have to try and explain yourself to me" I assured. "If you want to cry, go ahead. You've just been told that there's a strong chance that your brother will die. Not many people would be able to hear that kind of news without breaking down."

"What the hell am I going to do, Rose?" She asked. "Just this morning he was teasing you about kissing Dimitri and now he might not even live till the end of the night. How does that kind of stuff happen?"

"I really wish I knew" I sighed. "I just wish I hadn't acted the way I did. Maybe if I was friends with him, he wouldn't have gone out into the road like that."

"No, don't think like that" Lissa grumbled. "You weren't to blame for that. He was just being Andre. It was just a coincidence. What happened about the driver?"

"He sped off as soon as the ambulance was called" I answered. "It was practically hit and run"

"Man, I want to just get my hands on him" She said. "I want him to suffer for what he done."

"Lissa, calm down" I soothed. "He may be responsible, but you're better than that. Always remember that you're better than all of that."

"Whatever you say, Rose" She grinned before falling into a guilty state for having forgotten for a moment about her brother. "They say that he's conscious, but they don't think he will be for long. You should have your moment with him." I did just that. They were all respectful enough to leave me alone with him.

His eyes were open ever so slightly, his face taking on a strained look. His hair still managed to look attractive even though his face had lost all colour. "Rose, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Andre, how are you feeling?" I asked even though it was abundantly clear that he wasn't feeling good. "I'm sorry for saying what I did about you. I love you so much, Andre. Please don't die."

"Hey, calm down" He chuckled, his voice brittle, reminding me that he could be on his deathbed. "I know you didn't mean it and I love you too, sis." Even though we weren't blood related, he was still my brother and I was his sister. "If I die, it won't be that bad. You'll have your memories of me and Dimitri can help you through it. He really does care for you, you know"

"Andre, if you die, it will be the worst thing in the world" I sighed, pressing my head against his for a moment. "I suppose I should give the others their turn to speak with you. I love you, brother"

I didn't wait to hear a reply. I simply turned on my heel and left to where Dimitri was standing as Rhea and Lissa went in to say their goodbyes.

"How was he?" Dimitri asked. Throughout this whole ordeal, I had forgotten how it would be affecting Dimitri. The boy lying on his deathbed was the boy that Dimitri had grown up with.

"He doesn't look good." I whispered. "He's so pale and his voice breaks whenever he speaks. It doesn't look like he'll make it." Dimitri's eyes filled with sorrow and he hung his head helplessly.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. "I know that Andre treated you like a sister. You were his soft spot."

"Like shit" I answered. "It's all my fault."

"Stop saying that" He scolded. "If it was your fault, Andre wouldn't have been as happy as he was about seeing you."

"He said you care about me" I said, my voice in monotone. Now probably wasn't the right time to bring it all up, but I just couldn't restrain. Andre's words were searing into my mind. What if Dimitri really did care about me? After all, we had kissed and he's letting me spend the night.

"Can we talk about this later tonight?" He questioned. "I'd rather get through this before we talk about feelings."

"Sure, I don't mean to press" I defended. "I know how hard this must be for you. He was your best friend and you've already been through so much."

"Yeah" He sighed, saying nothing else on the matter.

…

An hour later, the door finally cracked open and Dimitri jumped up. He had waited for his turn to talk to Andre for long enough, but when Lissa and Rhea came out with tears coating their cheeks, we knew that something was up.

"Is he dead?" I questioned, believing that being blunt was the only way to get around a subject like this. She didn't have to tell me that answer for me to know. The way she averted my gaze was answer enough. Dimitri never even got to say goodbye.

It all moved so quickly after that. It was just like the moment of impact. I zoned in and out of focus, not able to come to terms with the fact that the boy who I had grown up with was gone. How could the kid I ate breakfast with this morning have stopped breathing so suddenly?

The first words were spoken when we reached the car park.

"Dimitri, are you okay for getting home?" Rhea asked. "If you want, we can give you a lift down to your house."

"No, it's okay, I brought the car" He answered, not making eye contact.

"I'm going home with Dimitri" I finally said. "He said I could spend the night and I think it's important that you two have some time to yourself."

"Rose, you're part of the family" Rhea assured. "None of that will change just because Andre's no longer here."

"I just think it'll be better this way" I said. "I'll be back after school tomorrow."

"I'll see you then, Rose" Lissa whispered, giving me a brief hug before they left.

"Come on, Rose" Dimitri sighed, taking my forearm and leading me back to where they parked the car.

…

Once we were in Dimitri's house, a woman with soft brown eyes soon appeared.

"Where on earth have you been?" She questioned with a harsh tone marking her voice. Surely she would worry if her son came home late only weeks after her daughter died.

"Andre died" He informed. "He was knocked over." His mother's eyes softened and she took a step back.

"My little Andre?" She questioned. Something told me that Andre was close with this woman. "Goodness, honey, come here." She pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair. "Who's this?" She asked after her eyes settled on me.

"This is Rose" Dimitri said. "She lived with Andre. Rhea took her under her wing when her mother left her."

"I am so sorry to hear about your loss" She sighed as she rested her hand on my shoulder and give me an assuring smile. "I'm Olena Belikova."

"Hello, Olena" I greeted, feeling nervous about saying anything else.

"Mum, is it okay if Rose spends the night?" Dimitri asked. "She thinks it would be better if she left Rhea and Lissa alone for a while."

"Of course. You're welcome here any time, Rose" She said. "Separate bedrooms, though." It just felt wrong for her to try and make this situation more light hearted, but I could see where she was coming from.

"I'll just go upstairs" I sighed, practically racing up the stairs, only stopping when I reached the top.

"Is this the girl that you were telling me about?" I heard Olena question when she thought that I was out of earshot. "The one that you kissed?"

"Yeah, Mum, but don't say anything about it" Dimitri whispered under his breath. Great, it seemed as though everyone knew about the kiss. Was it really that hard to trust people now? Dimitri is the next to add to the ever growing list of people who have betrayed my trust. I just needed Andre back.

**I am so sorry. Ugh, I know you'll all hate me, but I can promise that good stuff will happen in the next few chapters. Hope you enjoyed even though it was a horrible chapter! Oh, and thanks for all the reviews.**


	9. Chapter 9

Redemption

**Ah, I took ages with this update too. Sorry about that! Well, I hope this chapter makes up for that. Thanks for the amazing feedback and keep it coming XD**

Chapter Nine

The next morning was just weird. I still expected to wake up and see Andre wandering around the hallway with a towel wrapped around his head to dry his hair. I still expected Rhea to scold him for taking too long to choose what to wear. It was a depressing moment when I was greeted by Dimitri smacking his fist off my door with a shout of 'breakfast's ready.'

As soon as I got downstairs, I felt the pressure that today held. I would be going to school where everyone knew that Andre had been hurt. Nobody knew that he was dead and I was going to have to break it to them.

"How are you feeling?" Olena asked as she placed a plate of toast on the table in front of me. "Was your sleep okay?"

"It was fine, Olena" I sighed. "Just a little difficult to get my brain to switch off." She gave a sympathetic look before turning back to the sink to avoid eye contact with me.

"These things will take time" She whispered. "We can't expect to heal overnight. As long as you stay true to yourself and those around you, there's nothing that you can't overcome. Your sleep will soon grow peaceful" As freaky as Olena sounded; I prayed to God that she was right.

…

Olena had allowed Dimitri to take the car as long as he was careful with it. The accident with Andre had really freaked her out.

"Are you ready for this?" Dimitri asked as he parked the car up and took his seatbelt off.

"Ready for what?" I asked in disbelief. What more could possibly happen to make this week worse.

"Everyone's going to be hounding you to tell them what happened" He explained. "You'll end up getting emotional." Dimitri obviously didn't know the first thing about my personality. If Lissa dropped down dead in front of me, I wouldn't cry in front of everyone. I'd wait until I was in the comfort of my own home and then I would break down.

"No, I won't" I sighed. "I'll be fine. How about you?" Throughout this whole ordeal, everyone had forgotten that Dimitri had lost his best friend. Everyone was concerned over the mother, sister and the girl who had already been through shit.

"I'll be fine" He whispered. "If you need me, you know where I'll be" He opened the car door and began to walk into the main building as I followed suit. I tried my hardest to ignore the points as we hurried through the main building. It was only a matter of time until the first person came up to me to ask what had happened.

…

It was in English when it happened. The chair beside me was empty and it was Jesse who leaned forward and tapped me on the shoulder. His eyes flickered to the seat beside me when he asked. "Hey, what happened to Andre yesterday?" To the right of me, I could see Dimitri tense up.

"Yeah, where is Andre" Mrs. Karp asked. Gosh, she had attracted the attention of the rest of the class. The hum of questions soon followed and everyone turned to stare at me.

"Um, I'm guessing you all know about the crash" I croaked out. A few gave silent nods whereas the rest just looked transfixed by my words at the thought of finding out what had happened to Andre.

"Well, he went to the hospital and he…he…he died" I whispered, fighting back the sting of tears, the lump in my throat only too familiar. God, what was I supposed to do? "Just leave it alone, okay?"

No one spoke. No one even uttered a word. There were no gasps or silent tears. Everyone just stared at me or out the window as they tried to comprehend what I had told them. How could they possibly believe that Andre was gone? Why would they want to believe it? The class clown, the flirt and the sweetheart was going to be six feet under.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dimitri asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I whispered just as the bell rang loudly.

…

The rest of the day was exactly the same. I told everyone who asked that Andre was gone. Well, I didn't need to do it. It had travelled around the school as quick as wildfire. They all wanted to hear it from me. They wanted the details. They wanted me to tell them about his last words. They wanted me to tell them if he cried. They wanted me to tell them if Lissa was sitting at home crying her eyes out. Well, I would never divulge in that. All they needed to know was that he wouldn't be coming back.

It got worse when Lissa finally decided to show up. I couldn't believe my very eyes when I saw her. Her eyes were a little puffy, but she looked fine apart from that. She was swamped by students as soon as she stepped through the door. It took ten minutes for me to finally get her alone.

"How are you doing?" I asked her. "What are you even doing here? You should be at home to rest."

"I had to come in and tell you something" She said.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it could've waited until I came home tonight" I reminded, but she simply shook her head hard.

"No, it couldn't" She insisted. "Your mum showed up today. She read about Andre's death in the paper and she wanted to make sure you were okay. She's at our house now and she really wants to see you" My eyes went wide. When I moved in with Lissa, I believed that that was going to be the last time I ever saw her. I was ready to move on with my life and separate myself from her, but she was insistent to make my life a living hell.

"Man, I should probably go now" I sighed as she led me away, but a hand on my forearm stopped me. As soon as I turned, I saw Dimitri.

"Where are you going?" He asked. It seemed as though it was concern that was lurking in his voice, but I couldn't let myself believe that.

"My mum's decided to come back on the scene" I grumbled. "She's spotted my weakness and she's going to use it"

"Whatever happens" He sighed. "Don't listen to a word she says." I was a little surprised. It was one of the first times Dimitri had shown that he cared. From what I've heard, she's no good for you. You're better than her, Roza"

"Okay, Dimitri" I mumbled. "Thanks" He done something I would expect in a million years. He lowered down and kissed the top of my hand before letting me go. I simply turned away without saying anything and followed Lissa out of the main doors.

"What took you so long?" She asked once we were walking home.

"Nothing" I answered. I had learned from last time not to divulge in anything with her if I wasn't sure about it. No one else was going to die by my doing.

…

The old Volvo was parked outside of Rhea's home and my old dog was roaming around the garden. Hell, she still looked just as perfect as she did the last time I saw her. My little Asya hadn't changed a bit.

As soon as she saw me, she bounded over to me, licking my hand with her big, sloppy tongue.

"I see it hasn't changed" A voice said from behind me. It was one that I could easily recognise. "You have more interest in the dog than you do your own mother."

"And so it begins" I muttered, turning to face her, not bothering to plaster on a fake smile like I used to. "Hello, mum. What are you doing here?"

"Is that all you have to say?" She questioned. "You haven't seen me in weeks and you just want to know how I've been. Well, I came because I heard about Andre." My gaze turned stony. She didn't deserve to mention his name. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"Well, I'm fine" I assured. "I've got Rhea, Lissa and a bunch of people at school who are looking out for me" Okay, maybe the last one was a bit of lie, but the effect was still there. "Thank you for coming. I'll see you later" It wasn't the most tactful way of getting rid of her, but I was praying that it would work.

"Oh, don't think I'll be leaving that quickly" He laughed as though the idea was absurd. "I really want to talk to you. You should come inside" I allowed her to pull me over to the sofa and sit me down.

"What do you need to talk about?" I asked, knowing full well that this was just a stunt to screw me over.

"I'm not happy with you being so far away" She sighed. "You've always known that my dream is to go travelling and that that dream seemed impossible when I had you. Well, you're old enough now to come with me without being a hindrance." God, she never really chose the right words. I was a hindrance when I was younger. Thank you, mum.

"What are you getting at?" I asked, tapping my fingers off my knee in impatience as I hoped that what she had to say wouldn't be as bad as what I was thinking of.

"I want you to come travelling with me" She said. "I want you to see the world with me and I want to be the mother that Rhea is." My jaw dropped and so did Lissa's. Dimitri's words burned in my skull. _Whatever happens, don't listen to a word she says. _She didn't want those things at all. She wanted to make my life worse.

"You can't d-do th-that" I spluttered. "You can't just leave me and then assume that as soon as you come back, I'll want to be you precious daughter again. You say 'jump,' I say 'how high?' I'm not like that and you know it."

"Rose, I want you to come with me, so we can have thee relationship that we have been deprived of." She explained. "At least give it a try."

"There is no way in hell that I'm going to 'give it a try.'" I shouted. "There is no way that I'm going to leave everything that I have here just for a trial run with you. You can forget and you can leave, if that's all you came here to say."

"I'm sorry that I have to do this" She apologised. "But you don't have a choice in the matter. I am your mother and you do as I say. We leave in two days." She just got up and walked out, leaving me with this bombshell.

"Rose, are you okay?" Rhea finally asked as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "She can't make you go. Hell, we'll take it up with the court if we have to."

"No, she can make me go" I sighed. "She's my mum, at the end of the day. If she wants something, she gets it."

"No, there is no way that Dimitri is going to stand for it" Lissa finally shouted. "And Andre wouldn't if he was here."

"What's Dimitri got to do with any of this?" I questioned.

"Gosh, you're so clueless" Lissa laughed. "He does have feelings for you, you know? There's no way he's going to let you go without explaining everything to you and when he does that, he'll want you too much to let go." Her words made my heart skip a beat. Was this true?

"Then if you really think he won't let me go, we need to get him on it" I sighed as an idea fell into place in my head. "I'm not going down without a fight. We can really make this work."

"What's you plan?" Rhea asked. Oh, I didn't want to do this to her. She's ever so friendly and too nice for her own good. She'd struggle to lie to my mum.

"Rhea, you may not be entirely comfortable with this."

**Aha, it's a better chapter than the last! I hope everyone enjoys and thank you so much for all the reviews!**


	10. Chapter 10

Redemption

**I don't think I took as long with this chapter as I did the last. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys and please keep the feedback coming!  
><strong> 

Chapter Ten

"Look, just tell me what I have to do and I'll do it" Rhea pressed. "She's not going to take you if I have anything to do with it. Rose, you're practically my daughter now and I'm not about to allow her to take you away."

"Thank you, Rhea" I sighed earnestly. "Well, you said that Dimitri wouldn't let me leave with her, so how about I fake run away with him and you guys tell her it's something to do with being in love. There's no way that she'll go to the police because they know what sort of things she's done in the past." As soon as I told the family my plan, it began to sound more and more successful.

"Why does Dimitri have to go?" Lissa asked. "Why don't you just do it and we'll say that you didn't want to go."

"No, it's got to be this way" I whispered. I didn't know if it was because I wanted to spend time with Dimitri or because I didn't want my mum to be hurt by me or even because I just didn't want to be alone.

"Why would I find that so hard to do?" Rhea asked, taking the seat next to me on the leather sofa, resting her hand on my knee like a mother would do to her youngest child in times of distress.

"Because when my mum comes here to take me away, you'll have to lie" I sighed. "You're a good mother and lying isn't really your speciality." Her face contorted in thought for a moment, scared in case she destroyed the plan with her inability to lie.

"I can learn how to do something if it means that I get to keep you in my family" She finally said. "There is no way that that woman is going to take you away from us. Andre wouldn't want that." Her eyes glistened with tears as she took a look at a photo that stood proudly on the mantelpiece of her son, lined in a white photo frame.

"Thanks, Rhea" I mumbled, allowing her to drop a motherly kiss on the top of my hair before standing up again.

"Well, you better call Dimitri and then we'll plan it." She ordered.

"What do you mean 'plan it'?" I asked.

"Do you honestly think I'm going to let you jump in a car with that boy with no idea where you're going or where you're going to get money?" She questioned. The more she stared at me, the more I realised that that was a stupid idea. If I ran away with Dimitri driving, I would be screwed within a few days. I didn't think about the need for food or money. Without Rhea to help me, I wouldn't last a week out there. "We're planning this extensively."

"I'll ring him now." I sighed, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialling the number before moving into the kitchen, being sure to close the door behind me.

…

"Hey, Rose" He answered. "What do you need?"

"Is there any chance that you can come over here?" I asked. It was asking a lot, but I was hoping he would have faith in me to do it. "I really need your help."

"Of course" He answered in a loud voice before going down. "Is everything okay, Roza."

"Everything will be fine once I tell you all of this" I mumbled. He soon hung up and I was left waiting.

…

"You've got me worried, Rose" Dimitri finally said once he had refused all of the biscuits that Rhea had been offering. "What's happened?"

"Well, my mum came over" I started. "She's found out about Andre's death and she claimed that she wanted to make sure that I was okay, but she went on to tell me why she didn't want me before. Long story short, she wants me to go travelling with her. Actually that's wrong. She's _making _me go travelling with her."

He was stunned. He stopped shaking his hands at Rhea and stared straight into my eyes. I hadn't expected him to hold as much intensity as he did, but he proved me wrong. He looked furious, agitated and sad.

"Is she being serious?" He asked. "She can't make you do anything like that" He shot up from his seat and paced the living room floor. "This is an absolute joke. Take her to court, Rose. Do anything to get her to leave you alone."

"Dimitri, that's where you can help me" I jumped in, desperate to end the tirade of pacing. "If you'd just let me explain" He finally stopped and sat down again in order to get me to continue. "Well, if you come with me and we run from her. She won't go to the police because she's too scared. When she's given up, we return here. Rhea will keep us updated and tell us when she's gone."

It was too much to ask of him. He's lost his sister and his best friend. How could I expect him to just leave his mother to grieve? There was no way that he would give up on his family for a girl that he's known for a week.

"Are you saying that I'll have to leave everything behind?" He questioned. "Just so I can go on the run with you?"

"Look, I know it sounds like a lot, but it won't be for long" I persuaded. "She won't try for long. Once she knows she's not going to get me, she'll give up and then we can come back here. Please, Dimitri. If you ever do anything for me, do this."

"I don't know, Rose" He grumbled. "It's a lot to ask. I don't mean to say this just to get one over on you. I just really need to be there for my family right now. I just can't do this for you even though it will be hell to live without you." I could feel my eyes stinging, but I refused to cry at this setback. My life relied on this one moment. I was going to do this right and I was going to stay with Dragomir's. It was just going to take a little more work to persuade Dimitri.

"Dimitri, if Rose goes, you'll never see her again" Lissa pressed on. "Once she's gone travelling with her Mum, she won't want to come back here to you. She'll be gone and there will be nothing you can do about it. Just please do it."

"What?" I asked. "What are you talking about?" The piercing stare she gave me told me that I should probably keep quiet. She had an idea and something told me that it would be best for me to just stay out of it.

Dimitri's gaze turned thoughtful as though he was wearing out the pros and cons before he finally sighed, "Well…I suppose I could do it." It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. It was amazing what a couple of words from the right guy can do.

"Thank you so much, Dimitri" I breathed, instinctively wrapping my arms around his neck and breathing a sigh of relief. "Dimitri, you have just saved my life." 

"Now that he's said yes, can we please get on with planning?" Rhea asked. Turning around, a fake smile plastered over my face (planning wasn't really my kind of thing) I nodded.

…

Jesus fucking Mary and Joseph. Rhea's planning was nothing like I could have imagined. She had maps scattered across the living room coffee table, survival kits that you used to get in scouts and I swear to God I saw a few walkie talkies. She was going all out on this thing.

"Okay, so you're going to start here and during the first day you should probably cover one hundred miles. You want to put a good distance between yourself and Janine." Rhea mumbled to herself as she crossed a few locations on the maps and dates. "You should probably get a head start and leave at least a few hours before she's due to come here. Lissa, could you start writing out a food list?"

In my head, I couldn't help but think that this was a little outrageous. I had just thought that we would be away for perhaps a weekend and then my Mum would give up. The way Rhea was planning it; she'd have us up and down England at least three times before we could come home.

"Right, the crosses are the locations where you can rest" She began to explain. "The dates are when you should be there, so we know where you are at all times. You take the walkie talkies, so we're not wasting money on calls between the two of you in case you get separated. You only use phones if you need to talk to us. Try and ration your food and I can dig into Andre's savings as a last resort. We'll meet up when Janine is gone." My eyes went wide at the sheer mass of everything that she was explaining to us.

"Rhea, don't you think this is all a bit unnecessary?" I questioned, looking down at all of the maps and the box of food and drink that Lissa was now putting together. Rhea only took a moment to stop everything that she was doing, so she could run a hand down my hair and cup my cheek in her hand.

"I lost my boy yesterday" She stated for the first time without her eyes filling up. "When a woman attacks your family after that, there is no possible way that I'm going to take  
>chances. You are my daughter even though you share blood with that woman." Surprisingly, it was my eyes that filled up.<p>

"Thanks, Rhea" I whispered, allowing her to get on with the preparation as I took a moment to centre myself.

"Look, I'm going to go and spend whatever time I have left with my own family" Dimitri finally sighed. "I'll come down the morning that Janine is supposed to come and we can go. After all, I have a family that I'm sacrificing" Dimitri's words stung, but I could understand where he was coming from. I was asking a hell of a lot from him and there was no way of getting around that. I shouldn't be asking him to do all of this from me. He does have a family that he should be there for and I'm taking that away from him to ensure that I'm not around my Mum.

"I'll see you later, Dimitri" I mumbled, following him to the front door to hold it open for him. Just as he was about to leave I leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "You do know that you can say no any time and I'll be okay with it."

"I know" He grinned. "I just can't even comprehend the thought of letting you be taken away by her" As bad as the circumstances were, I still found myself blushing at his compliment and watching as he walked out of the street.

"Stop drooling over him, Rose" Rhea laughed. "We have a great escape to plan"

"Oh, joy" I said sarcastically, taking my seat back on the sofa and rolling my eyes a little. Something told me that this was going to be a tough few days and being stuck in a car with Dimitri 24/7 could only make it worse. Well, it's what I've got to do if I want to stay out of the clutches of my Mum.

**Well, I hope you all enjoy and please drop a review on your way out. Sorry, if that idea is absolutely terrible XD**


	11. Chapter 11

Redemption

**Thanks so much for all the reviews! This chapter will be the start of Dimitri and Rose running away, so I hope you enjoy and please keep the reviews coming!**

Chapter Eleven

"Rose, Dimitri's here" Rhea called up the stairs. Gosh, it was hard to believe that I would actually be leaving in a matter of minutes. I still couldn't tell if I really wanted to go, but I knew that if I didn't, I would be swept away by my mum. Taking a deep breath, I picked my bag from the bed and slung it over my shoulders.

Once downstairs, I was attacked with hugs from Rhea and Lissa. It was going to be so hard to leave them even though I knew that I would be coming back after just a little while. Rhea dropped a motherly kiss on my forehead and Lissa held onto my hand as though she was going to try and keep me here.

"You better promise me that you'll stick to this plan" Rhea laughed even though her eyes held tears. "No matter what happens, you stick to this plan."

"I will, Rhea" I laughed, allowing her to give me yet another hug. "I won't let you down."

"Goodbye, Rose" She sighed, still holding me close to her as she patted my hair down. If only my real mother understood how to do this. She opened the door for me and I stepped out, trying to ignore the fact that Dimitri was sitting in the car on the driveway, his eyes trained on me.

"Bye, Rhea" I smiled, pecking her cheek as though I was truly her daughter. "Bye, Lissa." She pulled me into a brief hug before pulling away and sending me a reassuring smile.

"I'll see you soon, Rose" She sighed. "You should go now. Your mum might come early." I nodded at her, taking my bag and clambering into the car. Dimitri said nothing to me as I slipped in, my eyes still firmly on the home that I was leaving.

He only spoke to me when we reached the highway. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" He asked, fiddling with the CD player as a grin played at his lips. It's moments like this where I just can't tell if he's being serious.

"Are you honestly asking me that?" I snapped, pulling his hand away from the CD player. The constant click of him changing the volume was beyond annoying. "I've just had to leave Rhea and Lissa a few days after Andre died just to get away from my stupid Mum." I could tell then that I had hit a nerve and that I really probably should have apologised, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"You know, you're not the only one who's having problems right now" He reminded. "Just about everyone in life have problems. Most of them know how to stop whining their asses off." Jesus, I wished that I had never even opened my mouth. "It's not like the guy that you're sitting next to isn't having a hard time. Why have you always got to be so ignorant?" As much as I wanted to scream at him and knock some sense into that pretty little head of his, I knew that everything he was saying was right.

"Look, I'm sorry about being so bitchy" I sighed, trying my hardest to make my voice soft. "I don't mean to be that way, but I guess I'm just…scared" It took a lot for me to say that last word. No matter how bad things get, I'd never admit that I was scared. That's a stupid emotion to have. His driving slowed and he gave me a side glance which I could only assume was his way of telling me that he was friends with me again.

"I know you're scared" he commented. "You'd be an idiot if you weren't, but you've got to remember that I'm in the same position as you. My sister died a couple of weeks ago and Andre was my best friend. I've had to leave the family I have left as well. The only thing that's going to get us through this with our sanity still intact is knowing that we have to do it and that things can only get better from here."

"Actually they could go a hell of a lot worse" I reminded. He rolled his eyes, a hint of a chuckle lurking in his throat as he turned a corner, coming off the highway. This was part of our plan; we'd switch between highways and country roads to keep my Mum away from us.

"Jesus, I was trying to get you to stay positive and you come out with that" He joked. "Way to look on the bright side of things."

"There is no bright side to this" I sighed.

"Seriously, stop being so negative all of the time" He scolded. "We've got each other in this and there is absolutely no way that Lissa and Rhea are going to let you go with Janine…and I wouldn't either." That must have been tough for him to say. I could tell as soon as I met him that he wasn't going to be the type of person to admit that he cared about someone easily. After all, the two people that he cared the most about in the world had died. That would feel like a knife in the back.

"Sorry, I'll try and be nicer" I co-operated. "Hey, I'll buy you an ice cream or something to make up for it" It was stupid to bargain with him, but I was willing to do anything to wipe that sad look off his face.

"We have to ration that money" He warned, taking Rhea's words straight from her mouth which was probably the sensible option.

"We've got plenty of money" I shrugged. "One ice cream isn't going to make that big a difference. I'm doing it whether you like it or not" He grinned at me and nodded as he wound through more and more trees, taking us deeper and deeper into the country.

…

It finally started to feel as though I could relax a little. Night had fallen and my mum still hadn't found us. There was still plenty of time for her to find us, though and that thought constantly hung over my head and it made me too scared to fully relax. Relaxing is the first stage to failing. At least Dimitri seemed a little happier after I had apologised and bought him an ice cream to assure him.

"We'll be stopping soon" He finally informed, his voice gruff after the lack of conversation that had been in the car. After so long in a car with someone that you usually don't get on with, conversation starts to become strained and even attempting to be civil begins to sicken you.

"Where are we stopping?" I asked after I had cleared my throat. He handed me the map, reluctant to take his eyes off the road. He was already tired, the chances of crashing increasing more than ever.

"It's the first one with the red circle around it" He answered, taking a sharp left before travelling in a straight line once more at a constant speed.

"Are we nearly there?" I asked, reminding myself very much of a young child stuck at the back of a car with a destination that seemed too long to wait for. It's just a shame that I don't even really have a destination.

"Yeah, it's about five minutes away" He answered, turning again until we were in a more civilised part of town. There would have to be somewhere here for us to spend the night. Thank God, I would be able to get out the car and stretch my legs. "Here we are" He finally said. I'm not going to lie. I had to hide my distaste. Out of all of the places that Rhea could have picked for us to stay in, she had to choose the one on the outskirts of town that looked grubby from a mile away. Something told me that tonight was going to be dreadful. "You look irritated."

"Please, don't talk" I sighed, following him out of the car and into what could only be described as a tacky hostel. "You'll only make this whole situation worse." I had expected him to shout at me for being so ignorant and whiny. After all, no one was really in the position to complain about the living conditions right now. There were things that mattered way more that we were going to have to deal with, but instead he laughed. A noise that I never thought I would hear again.

"God, you're so high maintenance" He joked. I was just about to shout my mouth off at him when I realised that he was probably right. Out of all of the things that I could complain about right now, I just had to pick the one that meant that I would be staying in a scruffy place.

"Just come on" I grumbled, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him with me, so he would walk a little quicker. I didn't like it when he was right. None of this seemed right when Andre wasn't here to join in. I knew that there was no point in wishing that he was here and no point in getting sad about it either, but sometimes it just gets on top of me.

"Hey, why the long face?" Dimitri asked as he tapped the bell on the desk at the front and waited for someone to show us to a room. Something told me that it wasn't going to be much of a problem to get a room available here.

"I'm just thinking of Andre" I answered truthfully, no longer having the energy to come up with a good enough lie to feed him. He wouldn't believe it anyway.

"You should stop that, you know?" He attempted to advise, but it just angered me. Didn't he know that everyone dealt with death in different ways? "I understand that it's a hard thing to come to terms with and that there are days when you just feel like giving up, but there's no point in feeling that way because none of it will make Andre come back." My anger soon diminished. Whenever I heard Dimitri talk about Andre in such a loving brotherly way, it touches me. The poor guy didn't deserve to have his best friend taken away from him. I had to say something, but I knew that no words would ever describe how I felt about that. Luckily, the woman who owned the fine establishment walked in with a creepy smile that made me feel as though she was a murderer.

"What can I do for you?" She asked, her bony hands resting on the desk. "Need a room?" 

"Yes, that's kind of the reason why people come in here" I answered, sarcasm dripping from my voice, but she didn't notice it… well, if she did, she didn't show it.

"You're up on the top floor" She said, handing Dimitri a key. "If you hear any noises in the night, it'll be the pipes. We've just sorted that floor out to get some more rooms." Before, I even had a chance to crack a joke about that, Dimitri steered me away from her, so I settled for mumbling it at him.

"Oh, joy, we got the floor that's just been converted into something that resembles a hotel." I grumbled, opening the door and stepping inside. The smell was overwhelming and the sight was ghastly. A bed, a dresser and a bath. That was pretty much it that was in this room. God, there was no way I was going to be able to stay in here.

"Well, goodnight" Dimitri finally sighed, already scooting under the covers whilst I stood at the door, transfixed by the horror. How could anyone live like this?

"Goodnight" I finally replied, taking the blanket that was shoved in the dresser and wrapping it round myself.

"You can sleep in here" He assured, making some room for me to slide in. Once I was all comfortable (well, as comfortable as I could be here) I closed my eyes. "Just stick near the edge" I couldn't help but grin.

**So sorry for taking this long with the update! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this.**


	12. Chapter 12

Redemption

**Thanks for all the great reviews! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and keep the feedback coming. Oh, and be sure to vote in the poll that I just opened which you can find on my profile!**

Chapter Twelve

The next day made me feel ill. It was Andre's funeral tomorrow and I couldn't stand the thought of missing it. I had grown up knowing that a funeral was the chance that every person was entitled to go to in order to gain some closure on the events. If I missed this, I was never going to get closure on Andre's death. It would haunt me for as long as I lived.

"What's up with you?" Dimitri asked, pulling a shirt over himself as he brushed his hair that was still wet from the shower he had taken. "You look like your about to burst into tears. Oh God, please say you're not going to."

"I'm not going to cry" I assured, not entirely sure about it myself. What if I did cry in front of him? There was no way he was going to know what to do about that. Something told me that he wasn't good at dealing with people crying even though he had grown up with many sisters. How did he deal with his sister's death? There would have been women crying everywhere. "Do you know what's happening tomorrow?" 

So much had been happening lately that I wasn't even sure if anyone had gotten round to telling him when the funeral was. Everyone always forgot that it was Dimitri's best friend who had been lost.

"Yeah, it's Andre's funeral" He answered. At least someone had bothered to tell him. "I read it in the newspaper. It was nice of you guys to tell me, by the way" Or maybe not. His sarcasm irritated me, but I could understand where he was coming from. It would annoy me too if people kept me out of the loop.

"I'm sorry, Dimitri" I sighed, not caring much to argue with him again. Too many arguments had happened in the last few weeks. "If I'd known that nobody told you, I would have"

"I know you would have" He agreed, letting out a long breath as he sat on the edge of the bed that I was still lying in. "I don't blame you for any of this. I just get a little angry sometimes and have a habit of blaming those that I care most about."

"I didn't know you actually cared about me" I laughed, but it sounded empty. It truly showed how fed up I was becoming of the situation that I was in. No one deserved to live like this.

"I'm running away with you, so that you're mum can't take you away" He noted, grinning widely at me. "In what world is that not caring about somebody?" Even though his words weren't really affectionate, they still made me smile and feel warm. I felt safe now that I knew that Dimitri cared about me. He would try his hardest to keep me by his side.

That was when it hit me. How could I have not noticed this before? I have a crush on Dimitri and I was stupid to even think that I didn't.

"Why were you thinking about Andre's funeral?" He asked, fiddling with the shoes that he was pulling on his feet. "I thought I told you that we should stop thinking about that all the time. It's only going to make us upset."

"I know that you said all those things and I know that you're right" I sighed, sensing that if I kept pushing this, he would get annoyed with me, but I had to do this. It was worth a try. "I just want to go. I don't think I'm ever going to come to terms with his death if I don't go to his funeral"

He looked at me with shock as he shook his head firmly. "There is no way I'm taking you back to that town. Not now that we've gotten out of there. Rhea will actually murder me and then your mum will get you. I'm not going to be responsible for ruining this whole plan."

"Look, you're not going to ruin the plan" I assured, clambering out from under the covers, so that I could sit next to him. "All we need to do is go to the funeral and stick at the back. We'll leave before it ends and then we'll set off on the road again. No one will ever figure it out."

"No way" He shouted. "It's too risky, Roza. I'm not going to let you do this. You'd screw this whole thing up. I can't let you go!" He was making me mad. There was no way I was going to let him keep me from this.

"It's not your decision anyway" I snapped, folding my arms firmly over my chest, wanting to persuade him to let me do this. "I don't need you to help me at all."

"Oh, yeah, and how are you going to get there?" He asked. "I'm the one who can drive. Good luck getting there by tomorrow on foot." Man, why did he always have to be such a prick. He was a prick that spoke sense, though.

"Okay, I didn't really think it through" I admitted. "Please, Dimitri" God, I'm so pathetic. I've actually resorted to begging to get what I needed. "Look, I know that you've been struggling with all of this too and you don't want to show it. You think that if you pretend like you don't care, the pain will go away, but it won't. If you go to this funeral, you might actually get something out of it." He didn't look as though he really believed everything I was saying. I knew that I would have to step it up a notch. "Or you can spend your whole life wondering what could have been." That done it.

"If I do this, do you promise that you'll make the rest of this trip easier for me and listen to what I say?" He asked. I didn't care if his request was the most absurd thing in the world; I was willing to do it if it meant that I could go to Andre's funeral. This meant far too much to me for me to blow it all away on something so stupid.

"Yes, I promise" I answered. "Will you take me?" He still looked as though he was having a silent battle about this matter with himself. I could see my window of opportunity closing right before me. He still needed something more to persuade him. "Please, Dimitri." It was only those two words that made him change his mind. I didn't know if it was the meaning behind them that changed his mind or the way my voice shook when I said it. 

"Fine, I'll take you" He sighed. I was too afraid to do or say anything in case he changed his mind again. I didn't put anything past him. "You've got to promise me that if your mum is there, we stay at the very back and if there's any chance of her seeing us, we leave. Promise?" 

"I promise" I mumbled, only now becoming aware as to how close we were to each other. He was facing me with his knee touching mine. He was so close that water was dripping onto my hand from his wet hair. Well, if I've managed to admit that I've got a crush on him then I should have the guts to do this. We had kissed once, but that had been entirely different to these situations. That was trivial. This was something a lot more important. Just like the last time, he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine gently. This time, I refused to get forceful with him. When I done that the last time, it only pushed him away and freaked him out. I wanted him to stay here for as long as possible.

He soon pulled away and smiled at me. That was not the kind of reaction that I was expecting at all. I had been under the impression that he was going to back off from me and apologise just like he did the last time. I thought that he was going to push me away from him and go back to acting all distant and that was the last thing I wanted during a time like this. I had grown close to Dimitri and I really felt as though he was a good friend of mine. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin that kind of friendship that I had with him. I didn't want to ruin anything.

"That was nice" I finally said, unsure of how I should act after what we had just done. Last time, Dimitri had pushed me away and ran out of the house before I even had a chance to speak to him. At the moment, he didn't look as though he was even going to move from his seat on the bed. He looked perfectly content with it all.

"Yeah, it was" He agreed, still smiling, but no longer facing me. It seemed as though he didn't want to make eye contact with me at all. "Sorry, if it looks as though I'm acting a little weird." Dimitri didn't strike me as the kind of person who would apologise over little things like this…unless he didn't see this as a little thing.

"Why are you acting weird?" I asked, a little scared in case it was all down to me. Maybe this kiss hadn't been everything that he had imagined it to be and he was only saying that it was nice because he wanted to stay polite. God, I never thought I would see the day where I would be worried about how Dimitri felt. This whole ordeal must have really changed me. I just couldn't tell if it was for better or for worse. His smile was beginning to put me on edge. It reminded me of the kind of smile that a serial killer always seems to wear once it's found a victim, yet he still looked gorgeous when he wore it.

"I'm not really used to doing things like this" He admitted. I found that very hard to believe. Everyone in school thought he was hot. He'd had girlfriend. Many of them. "All of the girls I've dated have been the ones who had the crush on me. It's never really been the other way around until now. I'm not used to it."

Dimitri had a crush on me. I found that whole notion to be very hard to believe, but I was in no mood to question it. All I could do was bask in it. It was me who this Russian God had the crush on. Me!

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked, dreading what the answer could be. I didn't know how I was going to react if he told me that he didn't want to carry on with this. That would be the most embarrassing and hurtful thing that someone would say.

"Come on, if we want to get to the funeral on time tomorrow, we're going to have to set off now." Well, that hurt a bit. I just assumed that he wasn't entirely sure how to word the fact that he wanted to be with me forever until the day we died. Yeah, Rose, I'm sure that's exactly what was going through his head. God, I hate my life.

**Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next one will take place at the funeral. Hey, two updates in like two days. Where did all of this time come from! Anyway, please vote on the poll about what I should write next!**


	13. Chapter 13

Redemption

**Well, thanks for all the great reviews! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the feedback coming! **

Chapter Thirteen

My heart was incessantly thumping in my chest as Dimitri drove back into familiar land. We shouldn't be doing this, but there was no way that I could tell him to turn back now and just leave the funeral. The most destructive thing in life is to live with regret. That's one thing that I was grateful that my mother taught me.

"Are you okay?" Dimitri asked. It seemed as though that was the only question he had really been asking over the past week.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I answered, almost too proud to admit what I was about to. "I'm just a little scared." I'm Rose Hathaway. I'm the girl who just doesn't get scared. How can I change this much over one death?

"You're scared?" Dimitri laughed as he took another sharp left and we drove back into town. What we were supposed to say if someone from school recognised us? They probably just thought we had been absent from school because facing it without Andre was just too hard. "Wow, that's a first." Well, he didn't have to mock me.

"It's not funny" I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest like a young child. When did I turn into such a brat?

"God, calm down" He sighed, parking the car outside of a church. "We're here." The funeral had already started and it was beautiful. Flowers of every colour were littered by the doors of the church and photos of him were framed and stood proudly on benches. He was beautiful and so was his funeral.

Dimitri took my hand and led me to the doors of the funeral. This was where we would spend our time mourning. There was no way that we could get too close. That would be disastrous. As soon as I peered in, I wanted to cry. So many people from school had taken the day off, so they could be here for him and his family.

"There are so many people" I commented as my eyes fell on Rhea and Lissa who sat at the front their hands clutching at each other as they cried for Andre. "Oh, shit" I hadn't been sure that my Mum would show up, but she had. She was sitting on the other side of the room to Lissa and Rhea and had eyes like a hawk. She was expecting me to show up here. Damn her for knowing me well.

"We should go" Dimitri whispered once he had noticed her too. His words astounded me. We couldn't back out of this now. "Your mum's here. We'll get caught if we stay here for too long." 

"No, we can't leave now" I argued, desperate to get closer as the woman spoke about him.

"Andre's life was too short" She had been saying with Dimitri grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to look at him.

"No, we can leave now because if we don't they'll catch us" he snapped. "Do you want to ruin everything?"

"Dimitri"

"No, shut up for two minutes and just listen to me. You're irritating me. Just do as I say."

"Dimitri, stop." 

"No, you need to learn!" 

"Dimitri!" My voice had risen far too loud as Dimitri finally listened to what I had been trying to say. His rant had attracted the attention of the whole church.

"Oh, shit" He sighed, his eyes going wide as he scanned the whole church. They were all looking at us… including my good-for-nothing mother.

"Rose, what the hell do you think you're doing?" My mum shouted as she got up from her seat and began her saunter over to us. Dimitri took my hand in his, pressing his lips to it. Well, he still had to play the part of the love-struck boyfriend.

"Come on" He muttered in my ear, already pulling me right out of that church and leading me back into the car. As soon as I pulled my seatbelt on, she was hammering her fists of the car window.

"Rosemarie Hathaway you get your backside out of that car right now" She shouted. "There is no way that this is over. We need to talk."

"She's not going anywhere" Dimitri shouted back, hunting for the car keys in his pockets. Please find them quickly.

"And you, lover-boy" She snapped as she pointed at him. "You better stay away from my daughter." Oh, so now he decides to play the role of a loving mother. Well, I'm not buying it. He finally found his keys and hurried away from the screeching woman. For the first few minutes, my heart was slamming into my chest. What if she caught up with us? God, I can't believe I had actually ruined Andre's funeral. There's no way I can forgive myself for that.

It was only when we got back into the country roads, Dimitri spoke. "You've got to admit, that was pretty funny" He finally said. Was he being serious? In what world was that funny?

"No, it wasn't funny at all" I snapped as I buried my head into my hands. "Dimitri, do you realise what we did? We wrecked Andre's funeral and now my Mum is probably onto us."

"I told you that we should have left, but you wouldn't have it" He argued. As much as I wanted to argue more with him and prove that I wasn't to blame here, I knew he was right. I should have just listened to him and none of this would have happened. None of it. It was my entire fault for trying to make everything so risky.

It was still rather funny to see his face when everyone was looking at him. And just like that, I started laughing for the first time for a long while. Dimitri looked at me as though I was mental, but still joined in before pulling over outside of a hotel.

"You're crazy" He laughed, taking my hand in his as he leaned back in his seat. "Oh, what are we doing?" My laughter died down as I pondered his question. I didn't have a clue what we were doing. I just knew that we had to do it.

"It'll all be over soon" I sighed, hooping that my words were true.

"No, that's not what I mean" He said. "Why are we blowing hot and cold all the time with each other? Why can't we just accept facts and move on. I can't live like this with you."

"Well, I don't have anything to suggest" I sighed. "We're always going to be like this with each other. We were made to argue. You made that clear when you kissed me and just acted as though it hadn't even happened."

"Hey, I didn't do that" He argued. "I just wanted everything to go the right way. I wanted to get Andre's funeral out of the way before I explained everything to you."

"Well, we're done with Andre's funeral now" I reminded, giving him a look of satisfaction. "You might as well tell me now." He didn't look as though he wanted to do that right now. Something told me a car wasn't the place he wanted to explain his feelings for me.

"Fine then" he grumbled. "Ever since I first met you, I knew that there was something about you that I was attracted to. You may be a complete bitch sometimes, but I have feelings for you and they're not going away no matter how hard I try." His words made my hearts swell.

"Do you really mean that?" I asked, too scared to let myself believe it in case I was the one to get hurt. I couldn't deal with that on top of all this business with Andre and my Mum. "You're not just doing it to hurt me?"

"No way, Roza" He answered, still holding onto my hands tightly. "I could never do that to you. Not after everything that we've been through."

"Then why are we just sitting here?" I asked, grinning from ear to ear as I sidled nearer to him. "Come here, Dimitri." I wrapped my arms tight around his neck and pressed my lips to his, no longer caring about scaring him away because I knew that he wasn't going to leave me. He kissed back with more force than I could imagine as he pulled me even closer to him until I was practically lying over the seat just to get to his lips. This wasn't the kind of way that I wanted to do this.

"Look, let's go inside" I mumbled into his lips. "This is hardly dignified" He clutched at my hips as he opened his car door and slipped out before opening mine and taking my hand.

"I didn't think you were bothered" He laughed, leading me into the hotel.

"Hey, don't be so cheeky" I grumbled, following him obediently.

Once we were inside, I was glad that he had picked this hotel. It was a lot cleaner than the previous one and a lot friendlier. The bed was wrapped in a crimson red duvet cover and the bathroom was one that made me feel ready to faint.

"Are you sure we can afford this?" I asked, still peering around the room. One night in a hotel like this would probably bleed us dry. "It's a lot of money. Rhea will be even angrier."

"Hey, you let me worry about our finances." Dimitri assured, stroking the side of my head with lean fingers. "This is a treat. We'll have enough money to cover the rest of this trip" I wanted to believe him, but I didn't want to ruin everything by making Dimitri think that I needed a treat.

"No, we don't have to stay here" I pressed, already scared that we were sounding like a married couple having a squabble. "Look, we could have a nice night in the car and we can just talk."

"Shut up before I change my mind" He laughed, already pulling me even closer to him. "We are staying here and we are going to have a nice night and you'll love it. You'll only regret it if we don't spend the night here."

"Fine, you win" I sighed, almost happy that I had given in. This hotel was extremely nice and the idea of spending the night here made me giddy. "Come here." He wrapped me up in his arms like he had done in the car and pressed kiss after kiss to my cheek, lips and neck. The closeness I had with him now was making my head spin. It was just so needed. Throughout this whole trip, I had missed people and I had wanted to talk to Lissa, Rhea and Andre, but I couldn't and now I have Dimitri to support me. It's almost as though I've found my lifeline. That kind of reassurance can't be found anywhere else.

"I'm sorry about all the things I've said to you, Rose" He sighed once he broke apart from me. "I was a dick when I first met you." I had vowed on the first day I ever met him that I was going to hate him until the day I died, but he looked as though he truly was sorry for the way he had made me feel on my first day at that high school. There was no way I couldn't forgive him.

"Forget about it" I sighed. "It's all in the past." Only I couldn't help but think that things from the past were going to come back and haunt us.

**Ah, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I finally actually wrote a nice one even if it did have Andre's funeral mentioned in it. Anyway, hope you like it and please don't hesitate to leave me a review!**


	14. Chapter 14

Redemption

**First thing's first, I deeply apologise for making everyone wait so long for this chapter! I thought I'd be able to get updates in quicker because of work experience, but it seemed to take a lot out of me. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing what you think of it. And I promise that I'll try and update a little quicker from now on. Oh, I'm also going on holiday on the 21****st**** July 2012 and I probably won't be able to update for two weeks, but I'll try. I get back on the 4****th**** August 2012.**

Chapter Fourteen

For the first time in my life, I woke up without any regrets. I had managed show Dimitri how I felt as it seemed as though we were going to stop arguing all the time and I had managed to get away from my mum again. Life just doesn't get much better than that, right?

The sun was still fighting to get out, though. It was clear now that there wouldn't be much of a summer this year, but even that didn't bring down my mood. I was still on a high after all of the things Dimitri had said to me last night. We talked through the night and really got to know each other. It was by far the best 'date' I had ever had.

"Rose, you don't regret anything, do you?" A small voice asked from the bathroom as I stirred in bed. This sounded like the sound of a speech that said that we shouldn't be together and, right now, I didn't want to hear it.

"Of course I don't regret anything" I said stiffly, glaring at him hard. "Is there any reason I should be feeling regretful?" I sat there and waited for him to launch into a huge explanation as to why we shouldn't have kissed again, but it didn't come.

"No, there isn't" He agreed. "I just wanted to make sure that this is really what you wanted. "And now that I know that that is right, I won't feel guilty about doing this" he practically launched at me as he pressed his lips against my own. It shocked me, but I was able to kiss back. I was intoxicated by his scent and the way his body felt on top of me. I lived for these moments.

"Like you'd feel guilty about anything" I laughed in between kisses. He backed off for just a moment to glare at me before kissing my cheek and lying back down. I really hoped that it wasn't me who had killed the mood.

"Hey, I do feel guilty about things" He defended. "I feel guilty about taking you away from your mum because she might actually just want to build a relationship with you and I'm keeping you both from doing that."

"Don't you dare say something like that" I snapped, sitting up in a shot. "There is no way on Earth that that woman wants to 'build a relationship' with me. She just wants to make me unhappy. That's all she's ever wanted to do. Don't for a second think anything otherwise."

"You don't that, though" He argued. "People change all the time. You used to be a whiny bitch, but you've changed." Okay, that was an insult in its finest form. I could tell that an argument was forming which I didn't want. It had taken us this long to decide that we were going to stop arguing with each other and we were just about to go over the precipice back into our old ways.

"Okay, I'm going to dismiss that one" I said calmly, determined to keep the fight from blowing up. "Look, I've known her my whole life. I know what she's like. She's not going to change, Dimitri. Please just trust me on this one."

"Okay, I trust you" He sighed, still looking as though he didn't entirely and that angered me a little, but not enough to actually bring any attention to it. "I still feel guilty about it, though" Just as I was about to open my mouth to protest, I stopped after realising that this was a small price to pay for his trust. I knew that he didn't give that to people easily. I was probably only a one off.

"I understand" I muttered, turning back on my side as though I was about to go back to sleep.

"Hey, is everything okay with us?" He asked. I hadn't intended to make him feel bad when I had turned away. "I didn't mean to make you mad with that talk about your mum. I just wanted you to know how I felt."

"I'm not mad" I assured. "It's just this atmosphere. In all of my life, I never thought I would be doing something like this and that just makes me feel a little bit scared. I don't like having to run away from my mum, but if I don't, I'll be stuck with her and there is no way that I'm doing that."

"If we just managed to hold this out just a little longer, she'll give up and then we can go back to our normal life. You can see Lissa and Rhea again." He reminded, kissing my knuckles in an effort to make me feel better about the situation that we had managed to find ourselves in.

"It won't be our normal lives, though" I whispered, knowing that I would regret even mentioning this because it would make us both miserable, but I also knew that I had to. After all, I think about it every day whether I want to or not. The memory of it really does haunt me. "Andre's dead and that means that there is no way that I will ever be able to go back to my normal life"

"I was really hoping you wouldn't say that" Dimitri said, letting out a long sigh. "Because that's how I've been feeling ever since the day he died and I know how bad it makes me feel. I wanted to protect you from that pain, but it looks as though I've already failed. I don't think I'll ever be able to get that image out of my head."

"I don't think I will either" I agreed. "And I feel as though it's my fault because he was talking to me when he walked out onto that road. If he hadn't been trying to apologise to me, he might have been looking where he was going and then it would have never happened. I've ruined everything."

"No, you haven't" Dimitri assured. "It looks as though that funeral didn't really give you closure." That had been my only excuse to go. It was the only thing that made Dimitri take me. He only allowed it because I had truly believed that it would help us both to deal with Andre's death.

"No, it didn't" I noted, looking down at my hands in shame at not being able to get over one death. This shouldn't be that hard.

"Probably because we had to run out in the middle of it" Dimitri laughed. That was the first time I was able to appreciate a joke even if it was to do with Andre's death and I was thankful to Dimitri for helping me.

"This is true" I laughed, allowing him to take me in his arms and simply hold me. If this is what being in a relationship feels like, then I want it with Dimitri. He made me feel so safe and protected that it made my head spin.

At that moment, the stupid mobile phone had to ring and ruin the moment. I was just about to start cursing about it when I remembered that it was the phone that Rhea had bought for the sole purpose of keeping us connected…something had happened.

"Okay, don't panic" Dimitri soothed even though I wasn't. "We're just going to answer it and I'm sure everything will be okay." He sounded as though he was more worried than I was and that was something that I never wanted to experience again.

"Dimitri, just give me the phone" I snapped, hating the way that he was acting. He was treating the phone as though it was a bomb that was about to go off at any moment. I snatched it from him and held it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Rose, first off let me tell you that the stunt you pulled at Andre's funeral was one of the most dangerous things you have ever done" Rhea scolded. "I'm very disappointed in you" I could have handled anything that Rhea had thrown at me, but disappointment didn't fit into that agenda.

"I'm sorry, Rhea" I sighed, my cheeks flushing in sadness. "I just had to go. I haven't caused too much damage have I?" I would have wanted the ground to swallow me whole if I had. The failure of this whole ordeal would be on my shoulders.

"Well, funnily enough, that's what I was ringing about" She began, her voice now taking on a softer quality that didn't contain as much disappointment. I let out a breath that I didn't know I had been holding. "I just wanted to tell you that your mother has decided to leave town and start off somewhere else. I think it's time that you came home now."

_Home. _The word just felt so right. It rolled off her tongue as though I had always been her daughter. After the past few days of living in a car and hoping to find random hotels to sleep in, I was finally being told that I could come home even though I pulled that stupid stunt. Things had worked out for the best.

"Well, that's great news" I cheered, trying my best to keep myself from jumping with joy. There had been a part of me that had been sure that things wouldn't work out and that my mum would stick around forever and that part had had me terrified for the better part of a week. It was a relief to be told that she was out of my life…I just hoped that it would be for good. "I'll come home straight away."

"Rose, before you go I want to tell you something" She whispered down the phone. "You've had me so worried. I don't want to say this, but I'm going to have to. If you pull anything like this again, I won't be helping you out of it." I gulped. Rhea may be the nicest person I've ever met in my life, but even she has her limits and I fully understood that and I respected it. There was nothing more that I could ask of her.

"I understood, Rhea" I sighed, wishing that I hadn't gone to the funeral now. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"I love you, Rose. I'll see you soon" She said as though she truly was my mother. I was determined not to slip up on this chance. As soon as I hung up the phone, I turned to face Dimitri whose curiosity had risen to new levels.

"What was all that about?" He asked, probably thinking that there was no way we were going to go home anytime soon after what happened at the funeral.

"That was Rhea" I informed. "She rang up to tell us that my mum has now given up on me and she's moved to another town for a fresh start. You do know what this means, right?" I asked, no longer able to contain my excitement. "It means that we get to go home and be with our families again."

"Then what are we waiting for?" He questioned. "Come on, let's get out of here."

**Hope you enjoy. Oh, and this is by no means the end. Trust me, it's not even close. Pease leave some feedback XD**


	15. Chapter 15

Redemption

**Well, I'm back from my holiday, so hopefully updates should be more frequent. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review! This won't be like any of the other chapters I have posted. In a previous review, someone said they would like to have a chapter in Dimitri's point of view, so this chapter will be in his point of view and it will be him reflecting on what has happened.**

Chapter Fifteen

My mind was a rush. It felt as though everything was just closing in on me right this second. It was as though I was sinking and sinking and if I didn't fight to break the surface, I would be dragged under by a current. Even with all of the good things that have come into my life, I still can't shake the feeling of loneliness.

When you lose someone that's so important to you, every day feels like a test. When my sister first died, I couldn't wake up on a morning without thinking that I was going to be dragged under by it too. There was a part of me that wanted that. I didn't want to live if it meant a life without my baby sister. I didn't want to live out any of my days. I regretted living before I even had a chance to do it.

Even when I was with Rose, I couldn't get rid of that feeling. Yeah, everyone assumes that I'll be fine now that I have her. They said true love would consume me…that I would forget about the accident, yet no matter how happy I feel when I'm around her, the pain from the accident still hurts like hell.

I guess I just wanted my sister to give me a hug and tell me that it was all going to be okay. It's stupid, I know. I'm the guy, I should be the strong one, but sometimes it gets a little too much even for me.

The ride back home was a silent one. You would think that we'd be full of conversation about what we were going to be doing with our future since it seemed so bright, but both of us were too deep in thought to even contemplate talking to the other.

I felt guilty about everything I had done in the past few weeks. How was my mother going to react to this? When I told her about the plan, she put her trust in me. She knew that this was what I had to do and she wasn't going to stand in my way…even though she didn't like it. I should have realised then that I wasn't supposed to go out and actually do something like that for a girl that I hadn't even known for much longer than a week.

I just couldn't say no to her.

Not when I was faced with the ultimatum to leave home and help her or stay and let her go forever. I just couldn't face that thought. What was I supposed to say to my sisters? They had already lost one of their siblings and my mother had promised me that she wouldn't tell them what happened. I had been putting them through the same thing when Viktoria died. That surely meant that I was the worst brother alive.

They had been pretty close to Andre too. They had practically lost two brothers and a sister in the space of a couple of months. How could I even think about putting them through anything more?

"Dimitri, are you okay?" Rose asked. Her voice sounded different than usual. Whenever she spoke, she normally sounded so confident and sure of herself. She radiated self-belief. Today, she sounded too quiet and even frightened. Her voice was so soft and small. She understood what I was going through and she was trying to make me feel better, but she didn't know how to go about it.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I answered, my voice gruff, making it obvious that I was lying. It didn't matter anyway. It seemed as though Rose was in the mood to stop questioning me. "I've just been thinking about the last couple of weeks."

"It's been crazy, right?" She sighed. Something in her voice irritated me. It was almost as though she seemed glad that this had happened. It was just like that. I could feel the anger seep back into me and fill me until I felt as though I was going to explode in a fit of rage. It was just like all those time when I got mad at her and we'd have the stupid arguments that Andre would hate so much. I always knew she liked a sense of adventure, but I didn't know that she would take it this far.

"You sound happy about it" I commented as some of the anger flooded away. I didn't want to argue with her, but sometimes it felt like too much to resist.

"It's difficult territory to go into" She sighed. Her words did nothing to help my paranoia. Why couldn't she have just said that she wasn't happy about it?

"Well, just tell me before you drive me insane" I said. She gave a small laugh. She didn't realise that her words were actually making me feel as though I was going to turn crazy at any moment.

"I don't like anything that has happened lately at all" She began. Well, at least she was off to a good start at explaining herself. "It's been the worst couple of weeks of my life because I know that I'm never going to see Andre again, but there are times where I think that something good has managed to come out of everything that has happened."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Rose was supposed to be the one who was struggling with coping with Andre's death, yet she's coming up with good things that have stemmed from it. How on earth can anything good come from something so evil? It was at this point that I remembered the words my mother used to say when I was angry about something. She used to tell me that even in the worst times there would always be something good in your life if you looked hard enough.

"If Andre hadn't died and we hadn't had to go on the run together from my mum, we wouldn't be sitting with each other right now." She reminded. "We'd probably still be arguing with each other every single day and we'd still be unhappy with how we were with each other."

"I'd still give that small good thing up if it meant that I could have Andre back" I whispered. It probably wasn't the right thing to say at that moment, but the words tumbled from my mouth before I even had a chance to think about what I was saying. Why couldn't I just keep my stupid mouth shut sometimes?

When I looked over at Rose, I regretted ever bringing it up. I should have just stopped at 'I'm fine.' She looked as though I had smacked her in the face. Her mouth was a little open and her eyes were wide. I had no doubt in my mind that she felt the same way…she just hadn't expected me to come outright and say it. She hadn't wanted to hear those words come from me. Even after all that has happened to us, she's refusing to accept the truth.

"Well, if that's how you feel" She muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest and closed her mouth. She looked just like the Rose that I had first met. She was the one who constantly argued with me and lived to torment me. I could only hope that we weren't going to be going back to how we were when we first met each other.

"Rose, don't act as though you wouldn't wish for the same thing if you could" I argued. I could feel my voice getting angrier and angrier. I just wished that I had enough strength in me to calm it down, but I knew that that was going to be a lost cause.

She fell silent and turned away from me, her eyes fixing on the passing trees. She did feel the exact same way as I did, but she was too scared to admit it to me. She was scared of what I might say…of how I might react. She was scared of going back to the way things used to be. After all, the way things used to be got someone killed.

"You don't know anything about how I'm feeling right now" She hissed finally, her eyes snapping around to burn holes in my head. Her anger was now getting the better of her too. I wasn't alone in this then. At least I knew that it was normal to get rage so big that I feel like I'm going to explode. "When your brother dies and your mum tries to take you away then you can comment on how I'm feeling, but until then, you can keep your mouth shut and your opinions to yourself. God, you've had it so easy."

"Don't you dare even go there" I snapped. "Andre was like my brother too. I lost him as well. I had to leave my mother and my sisters to help you. I lost Viktoria a couple of months ago. Don't you dare think that I have it easy because no one does. Everyone has their problems. The world doesn't owe you an explanation or a favour"

"Oh, shut up" She argued as she turned around again. Another silence fell over us as though it was invading our argument. It made everything even more awkward than it needed to be.

"Look, we're both annoyed and upset about what's happened, but there is no point in arguing with each other" I sighed once I had finally managed to calm down enough to take on my usual voice. "It's only going to make things worse." 

Her arms were still crossed over her chest and her eyes still held all the fury in the world. It didn't take a genius to work out that she was still fuming with me. The surroundings began to look familiar. I was almost at her house. If I wanted to make this better, I would have to do it quickly. The only problem was that I couldn't think of anything to say to her to make this better.

"We're here" I finally sighed as I pulled up to her house. She snatched off her seatbelt and yanked open the car door.

"I can't believe I ever gave you a second chance" She hissed before she slammed the door closed and stormed back into the house without as much as a goodbye. Was it really that bad what I said? I rested my head on the steering wheel and gave a loud sigh. I had never seen her that angry. It was going to take a lot to get her to forgive me for this. I really had blown it this time. How was it fair that as soon as things looked up, it went to pot straight away?

With a loud sigh, I put the car in gear and drove away from the house. God, I wish Andre was here to give me some advice.

**So, a look in at how Dimitri feels and thinks. What did you think? Should I do any more chapters like this? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review. I think updates might be a little more frequent because I've stopped writing my Harry Potter story. **


	16. Chapter 16

Redemption

**So sorry about taking forever to update! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter and thanks so much for all the reviews! This chapter is going back to Rose's point of view.**

Chapter Sixteen

As soon as I stepped through the door, I was attacked by hugs from Rhea and Lissa. Oh, I had missed this so much. As much as I had enjoyed my time with Dimitri, I belonged here with my best friend and her mum. I wasn't one to cry very often, but the tears just seemed to spill before I even had a chance to stop them. I had forgotten just how much I had really missed them. I had craved a motherly hug for the whole of that trip. I had missed being able to talk freely to Lissa whenever I wanted to.

"Rose, I've missed you so much" Lissa finally exclaimed once the hugs had stopped and they had given me enough chance to breathe. "How were you? Did anything good happen?" A grin rose to her face which I knew she was trying to hide.

"Lissa, that's not an appropriate question to ask" Rhea snapped as she led me to the sofa and put the kettle on. Oh, a nice cup of tea. That's just what I need. "She's just come back. The last thing she wants to do is go over it all over again."

"No, I'm fine with talking about it" I assured as I took a seat on the living room sofa. Ah, I had missed the comforts of being in your own home. "Something good did happen, but I screwed it all up"

"I'm guessing it was something good with Dimitri" Lissa sighed as that same silly grin made an appearance again before it fell at the mention of screwing things up. Oh, she didn't know the half of it. "I'm sorry to hear that. Did you guys start a relationship or something?"

"It's a long story, but we did" I told her. I felt my cheeks burn red as I revealed this. For some reason, I didn't feel as though I would ever have to tell her about this. I wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, but I knew that she was going to keep pushing me until she got the information that she wanted. "And then I got too angry on the ride home and now we're straight back to square one."

"Oh, Rose, you should have just let whatever it was go" She sighed. Even though Lissa had been practically the only good thing in my life, her words still managed to annoy me. She hadn't been through what I had. She didn't know how much anger I held over everything my mum did and how I blame myself for what happened to Andre.

"Lissa, you weren't in the situation…it's not as easy as that" I snapped. "God, not everything's black and white." As soon as I saw the look on her face, I regretted ever saying a word to her about it. I had hurt her big time.

"I know how upset you are, but that doesn't give you the right to talk to anyone like that" She scolded as her eyes brimmed with tears. How could I have been so selfish as to think that she hasn't been through enough lately!? "Of course I know things aren't black and white. My brother has just died. That's the most complicated things can get."

Before I even got a chance to apologise for what I had said, she hurried off upstairs. The slam of the bedroom door was like a slap in the face. Rhea simply stood in the doorway with a look of disappointment on her face before she followed after Lissa. At least I knew where I stood.

…

After twenty minutes of walking aimlessly outside, my legs began to grow tired. The scenery began to bore me as I passed tree after boring tree and teenager after boring teenager. It was at this point that I realised that running away with Dimitri hadn't even been as bad as I thought it had been. I wasn't one to run away from a bad situation, but I felt too guilty to face Lissa this time. What I said to her was absolutely unacceptable and incredibly insensitive. The sadness I felt for Andre's death could only be ten times worse for her. All I had managed to do was make her feel even worse about it all. Oh, what sort of friend am I? I wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to talk to me again. Oh, how do I even get myself into these messes? I just need to learn when to bite my tongue.

"Do you come here when you're upset too" A voice asked from behind me, snapping me out of my hazy state. I hadn't even noticed that I had sat on the bench in the centre of the shopping centre. When I turned to see who spoke, I saw Dimitri. I knew that I should be happy about seeing him again, but I could only feel anger. He was the cause of all of this. He was the reason why I was sitting on my own in the middle of the stupid town centre and he was the reason why I had even been gone at all.

Ah, it's always so easy to shift the blame onto someone else. I guess he's not the reason why all of this has been happening. I guess he's not the reason why my life feels like it's been falling apart bit by bit for weeks…heck, even years. I still couldn't quite bring myself to plaster a smile on my face.

"What do you want?" I asked as I faced as far away as possible from his without snapping my neck. It didn't take a genius to work out that he wouldn't be too pleased with my childishness.

"I want to know if you come here when you're upset" He repeated as he took the seat next to me. How did he always manage to act so adult about everything? He always managed to be the bigger person, suck it up and deal with whatever life was throwing at him. I suppose that was one of the things that drew me to him. That was what made me admire him as much as I did.

"No, I don't" I answered as my shoulders relaxed a little. At least I knew he wasn't here to argue with me at all. "I came here because I wanted to go for a walk"

"Jesus, calm down" He laughed. How could he find this situation funny!? "I only asked. I wanted to make sure you were okay. We said some things that we probably shouldn't have."

It astounds me how he can be so cold and angry one minute and then so wise and forgiving the next. He was always the one to make the first move and apologise about something or at least try to fix it. That's the biggest reason why I need to start acting more like him.

"Well, I'm fine" I snapped, no longer in the mood to hear any of his bullshit tirades about how we should just forgive and forget and learn from our mistakes. "I wanted to go for a walk. I don't know if you've realised, but it's been a really long couple of weeks."

"It doesn't look like you're fine" He retorted, yet his voice was still as calm and silky as before. He was determined not to lose his patience with me this time. "I've never seen you look so angry before in your life and that's saying something…no offence."

"Look, I know I'm angry a lot of the time, but I swear to God I'm fine" I lied. Why couldn't I just communicate myself in a better way than this!? His look told me that there was no way he was ever going to believe me about that. Giving a loud sigh before divulging in things I never thought I would. "No, I'm not alright. I keep pushing everyone away and I don't know how to stop. Lissa is pretty annoyed at me right now and you have every right to never talk to me anymore after the things I said to you."

"A lot of people get like that after someone that they care about dies." He assured. "They close themselves off, so they can't be hurt again. It's what you're doing to me and it's what you're doing to Lissa. No one can blame you for that if that's the way you're coping with it. It's your defence mechanism." Even though everything he was saying held a lot of truth, I found myself growing increasingly irritated. "It's your choice now to decide if you want to be with me." 

Holy hell! My eyes went wide and my mouth went dry. How was I supposed to know that? The answer niggled away at the back of my mind. Of course I knew what the answer was.

"Dimitri, you're amazing you really are" I started. "I love you, but as a friend. Look, I don't think I can be with you, at the minute. Not with everything that's going on. The time just doesn't feel right. Maybe we can be together when we've gotten through everything that's happened recently. I'm so sorry."

"Hey, there's absolutely nothing that you should feel sorry for" He ensured even though it was obvious by his face that he hadn't liked what I had said. At least I knew it was better this way. If we got together now, we would both be hurt years down the line. "You have your own free will." He gathered up his coat and took a few steps away as though he really couldn't be bothered with me anymore. Oh no, I had seriously messed things up this time.

"How did you know all that stuff about pushing people away?" I exclaimed. Hey, at that point I would have said anything to get him to stay for a little while longer.

"Because that's what I did when my sister died" He answered before he turned away and began to walk off. "We're a lot alike" He called over his shoulder. As soon as he was gone, I buried my head in my hands. I knew that it was going to be a day full of thinking. How could I be like Dimitri? I was nothing like him in the slightest. He was so testy and mean and then so sweet and caring…I was pretty much mean all the time.

Maybe he's right…maybe that's why we seem to work. Oh, how does he do this to me!? How does he make me feel so messed up as soon as I get my head straight?

**Well, that chapter was officially the most awful of this whole story…but I decided to post it regardless because of how long it has been since I actually posted a chapter…which I apologise for. The bad news is, I am now back at school which means it will be even harder for me to update, so I thank everyone for being patient and not giving up on this story. I promise I'll make the next chapters great to make up for the mishap. Hope you still enjoy this chapter and please review! XD**


	17. Chapter 17

Redemption

**I swear I say this at the start of every chapter! I am so sorry about taking so long to update. There isn't any excuse for it. I am struggling to update quickly because of school. It's making me so tired lately and I have also just started writing my Final Fantasy X Novelization which takes a lot of work out of me and I am also working on a new Vampire Academy all human story which is going to be great, so look out for that. It should definitely be up before Christmas. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review!**

Chapter Seventeen

When I woke up the next morning, memories of yesterday flashed back to me. I had hurt Lissa's feelings immensely and I had managed to friend zone Dimitri when we were having a moment over a stupid argument that doesn't even make any sense to me anymore. Although it may be the best idea for Dimitri and I to simply stay as friends for the time being, I couldn't help but feel as though I had screwed up majorly with that choice. I could have either made the best choice for myself by giving myself time to be alone and think or I could have just isolated myself from everyone who loved me. How am I supposed to get over Andre's death when I can't even talk about it to those who are going through the exact same thing as me?

"Rose, get your ass down here!" Rhea shouted up the stairs. Oh, she never shouted at me like that. Looks like I managed to hurt her too in what I said to Lissa. I guess Lissa is the favourite in this house. _Stop with the stupid, bitter comments! _Rhea doesn't favour anyone and, even if she did, it wouldn't matter because Lissa is _her _daughter. I'm Janine's. "You're going to school today! I don't care if you don't want to face anyone. You need to get over it at some point."

It took all the effort in my body to drag myself out of bed. It reminded me exactly of how my first day was at that school…but I didn't have Lissa to help me get a move on. She wasn't here today. She was avoiding me. And, to be honest, who could even blame her?

Reluctantly, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a knitwear jumper. I couldn't be bothered to make an effort today. There was no point in putting any makeup on…I'd only wash it off when I started crying in the toilets at lunch. My hair was scraped back in a tight ponytail and I pulled off any rings or necklaces I was wearing…they were only a hindrance.

"I'm up" I sighed as I made my way downstairs. Lissa was sitting at the breakfast table with her earphones in…probably only to ignore me. Rhea's back was turned to me as she busied herself with something that probably could have waited till later. Yep, she was also ignoring me. "Am I walking to school or are you taking me?"

"I'm taking you" She grunted before handing me a bowl of cereal. I took it gratefully, happy for some contact before taking a seat at the kitchen table opposite Lissa.

"So, what have I missed at school?" I asked her, desperate to and this horribly awkward silence. "Anything interesting?"

"No" Lissa answered, not making any form of eye contact with me. Gosh, she was really annoyed with me this time. Usually she just blanked me for a few minutes before feeling too guilty about it and apologising.

It was then that I realised that there was no point in making an effort to talk to them. They weren't going to budge by measly attempts at forcing them. They'd come around in their own time.

After a silent morning, we finally got into the car. The silence only grew more awkward once there was nowhere to escape to. Silence hung in the air as Lissa and I looked at anything except each other. Maybe it would be best for me to just come right out and apologise for what I said to her. Surely it would be better than just sitting in silence. Surely it would just put both of us out of our misery.

The car soon pulled to a stop and Rhea turned to look at us both…the first eyes contact from someone I had gotten all morning. "You two just ignore what everyone says to you today" She sighed. She had quite obviously been fretting about how both of us were going to handle today. There were going to be a lot of questions from both teachers and students. It didn't matter, though. It was nothing that I couldn't handle. I had gotten much worse than that before. It was Lissa who I was worried about. She was a lot more sensitive than I was about these things.

"It's fine, Mum" Lissa mumbled. "We can handle anything that anyone says at us" I could tell straight away by the tone of her voice that she was a hell of a lot more scared than she was letting on. She just didn't want to worry Rhea any more than she already had, so she was content in just lying to her, so she believed that everything was okay with Lissa.

I wasn't too pleased about that. I wanted Lissa to open up about her feelings even if it meant that I would have to listen to her talk and cry for hours on end. Anything would be better than her bottling it up. Everyone knew that that just led to further heartbreak and depression. I couldn't let Lissa go through something like that if there was something I could do to help her.

"Lissa, you're not expected to be fine after what you've just been through" I sighed. "It's a hard thing for you to deal with. I shouldn't have said what I said to you either, so I'm sorry. Whatever happens, I'll have your back throughout today"

Her face softened…only slightly, but it was some progress compared to how it had been this morning. It looked like she still held hope for our friendship. A huge weight felt like it had been lifted from my shoulders. Although it would probably only be considered as a small thing to anybody else, it made me feel a hell of a lot better.

"Thanks, Rose" She sighed as she gave me a half armed hug in the car. I could tell from there that she had missed talking to me too and had regretted the way she acted. "I'm sorry I acted the way I did with you."

"It's fine" I brushed off. "You were completely within reason with how you acted." We soon slipped out of the car and began the dastardly walk into school. I tried to ignore the stares and points that greeted me, but it was incredibly hard. Each time someone did it, I found myself growing increasingly annoyed and frustrated both with how they made me feel and how they were going to make Lissa feel.

It didn't take long for Lissa to grow sad with the day. Every time she heard someone whisper, her face fell just that little bit more until she was outright frowning at the world.

"Hey, cheer up" I laughed nervously as I shot her a fake smile. I wanted desperately to make her feel better than how she was feeling now. She looked at me as though I had gone crazy and then gave me a tiny smile. It was still better than her miserable look.

"I'm sorry" She sighed. "It's just that everyone keeps whispering about you. I wouldn't have minded as much if it had been about me." This was what probably annoyed me the most about Lissa. She didn't care what people said about her, but when it got to the people that she cared about, she would get so angry and upset for them. She didn't understand that I could deal with it pretty easily.

"Hey, it's fine" I assured as we took a seat at one of the picnic benches in the courtyard that was beginning to fill up with students waiting to go into first period. "I can look after myself. Nothing that these kids say about me is actually going to affect me. Stop worrying about it."

She looked as though she had listened to my words, but I knew that this was going to be something that was easier said than done. It was impossible for her to just stop worrying about me as easy as that.

"Hey, where did you go, Rose?" Someone asked me. When I turned to see who it was, I found someone who was in my English class. I couldn't think of their name…I just knew they sat at the front of the class and generally kept to themselves. Even though they weren't being nasty to me or Lissa, I could feel my anger bubbling up inside of me. This was only the first of many. This was how it was going to be for a long time. Everyone was going to either keep trying to find out the truth or they were going to make up so many rumours that were probably worse than how it actually was. It didn't look like I was ever going to be able to win this one.

"Fuck off, dude" I snapped. "Before you end up with your arm in a cast" It was the first time I had actually threatened a student at this school. I often did it at my old one…which was one of the reasons why I had been kicked out. I didn't want to be like this with people here, but asking what had happened had overstepped the mark for me.

"Jesus, chill out, man" He laughed as he took a few steps back. I could tell that he was scared that I was going to go ahead with my threat, but he didn't want it to seem that way, so he settle for making a joke out of it instead. "I only asked where you had been." With that said, he walked away and Lissa took a deep breath. The situation, as small as it might have been, had scared her and made her even more worried about me.

Just as I was about to tell her not to worry again, a familiar presence took the seat next to me. I had been worried about facing Dimitri, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. After all, I had much bigger issues to deal with right now…but that still didn't stop it from being awkward.

"What's going on with you two?" He asked. "You look like someone's just died" he closed his eyes as soon as the word slipped out. It was an easy to mistake to make and it was one that he was regretting hugely. "Lissa, I am so sorry! I didn't think."

"Dimitri, it's fine" She sighed as she gave him a sad smile. "Accidents happen." I tried to busy myself with looking at anything other than the two next to me. My eyes fell on a kid about my age with dark hair and bright blue eyes. I hadn't seen him before here, yet he seemed to be staring over the courtyard at me, Dimitri and Lissa. His stares made me feel awkward.

"Hey, who's that?" I asked Lissa as I pointed over at him. She took one look at him and then turned back to us.

"He's new here" She answered. "He came last week. His name's Christian or something like that. He's been acting really weird to me all week. It's like I've already done something to him. Crazy, right?"

"Yeah" I agreed as my eyes fixated on his. "I feel like I've seen him before." 

**Well, I think that's an appropriate cliff-hanger. I hope you've enjoyed this long time coming chapter and please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

Redemption

**Well, I reckon this an appropriate time to update. At least I finally seem to have a system now. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and please leave a review!**

Chapter Eighteen

As much as I tried, I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. He didn't make a move to back away from me or anything, nor did he try to talk to me. He did all of the communicating with his eyes. A stony stare met my own.

"Earth to Rose" Lissa laughed as she shook me, breaking my eye contact with him. Shaking it off, I returned to the group that I was standing in and left the situation down to the fact that he was new and that was why he was acting so weird.

"Sorry about that" I laughed nervously. Something about that Christian kid freaked me out. At that moment, I could tell that I was going to try my absolute best to stay away from him. The last thing I needed was to make another enemy in this play. God knows that it didn't end well with Dimitri.

"Are you alright?" Dimitri asked as he eyed me curiously. In a sense, he seemed to know me better than anyone. She believed that everything was just fine. Dimitri knew otherwise. I could tell that this was something that he wasn't going to let go until he made sure that everything was okay with me.

"Everything's fine" I lied, shaking my head as though what he was saying was nonsense. "He just freaked me out a little. Nothing to worry about" His curious look was still marring his face as he gazed at me, trying his best to make it impassive, but failing miserably.

"Rose, if something's on your mind, tell me" He demanded. I didn't like his attitude. There was just something about being told what to do that simply didn't go down well with me. It never had and it never would.

"Dimitri, I told you" I snapped. "Everything's fine. Just leave it." And because I'm just that immature, I crossed my arms over my chest and portrayed a face like a slapped backside. Yep, I should go back to nursery.

He blanched for a moment before gathering himself up again and giving a tiny nod. As soon as the bell rang loudly and he stalked off, I felt a pang of guilt in my very gut.

How did I keep doing this to him? I make him think that we're the worst enemies in the world then I become his friend and then more than friends and then tell him that I want to be just friends and then go right back to enemies…and he hadn't even done anything wrong.

As soon as I made it to my first lesson of the day, I sat down in my seat at the back of the room and switched my mind of completely. As other students piled into the classroom, I tried to ignore the gasps and whispers. It didn't take long for the anger to start bubbling up inside me again until I felt as though I was going to scream the class down. It all seeped away as soon as I heard one voice.

"Hey, Rose is back" A familiar voice laughed. My head snapped up and my face split into a grin. Adrian. Oh, I had no idea how much I had missed that guy. In any kind of situation, I managed to make things seem lighter.

He swanned over to the back of the class as everyone else stayed silent to listen to what we had to say. It angered me, but having Adrian here made that bearable.

"Hey, I've missed you" He sighed as he pulled me into a hug once he was sitting down. It felt nice to be in his arms again. Although he was probably one of the most gorgeous guys in this school, I just couldn't see him that way. He had practically filled in Andre's position as my brother.

"I've missed you too" I mumbled into his arms that were encircling me. "How have things been?" I asked once the class started to liven up again once they believed that I wasn't going to mention anything about my whereabouts…well, not when they were here at least. As soon as he sat next to me, I felt safer. I felt as though no one else could hurt me, at the minute. He was here to defend me if anyone asked questions about where I had disappeared to with Dimitri…but that still didn't stop people asking.

"Hey, where did you go, Rose?" Mia asked. I couldn't tell if she actually meant harm by it, but it still made me sad and angry…but mostly angry. Well, it seems like my old anger management teacher was right…I was incurable.

"Hey, stop hounding her, Rinaldi" Adrian ordered. At that moment, I felt like I could have thrown my arms around his neck and kissed him until I took my very last breath. Finally someone understood how I was feeling! Although he wasn't mean and bitter with what he was saying, his tone was firm, stopping Mia in her tracks and giving her a 'don't mess with her look.' It didn't take long for her to get the message and stalk off to her own seat.

As soon as I was out of the woods, I let out a long breath that I hadn't even realised I was holding. I realised then that I was prepared to give anything to stop people at school from finding out what really happened when we left. They probably believed that me and Dimitri were messed up with our feelings for each other and about Andre's death. I wanted to keep them from finding out that the only reason we left was because my Mum was trying to take me away.

It felt as though I could never really relax here. I couldn't relax anywhere. Every single school I went to, my Mum had a way of ruining it or my violence did. This was the first place that I actually liked. The people here were nice and the teachers here weren't actually that bad. I felt as though I could really make a life for myself here…and I wasn't about to let my Mum ruin that for me…but that doesn't mean I was ready for everyone else to find out about what she's like.

"So where did you actually go?" Adrian asked. I could feel my eyes bug out as I stared at him with a look of disbelief on my face. "Dimitri never actually told me" I was glad that Dimitri hadn't told him. If he had, God knows how annoyed I would have been. God knows how incredibly pissed off I had been.

That pissed off feeling was bubbling up inside of me at that very moment. My brain was telling me that I shouldn't be mad at him. It told me that he was only asking because he was curious. There was no way in hell that Adrian wanted to be mean to me and he sure as hell didn't intend to make me feel uncomfortable.

But then there was that other part of me. That was the part that made me act out in inappropriate way and that was the part of me that usually got me suspended or expelled. That part of me was telling me that Adrian was being a dick. That part of me was telling me that I should do something about it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I snapped as I fixed him with a hard glare. He looked taken aback. He looked as though he had no clue what to do…like that was the last thing he was expecting to come out of my mouth. After all, he had been the one that had stopped others from asking me that same question. He had been the one that had been looking out for me ever since my very first day at this school. To pay him back, I was biting his head off at the slightest thing he said that made me uncomfortable. I guess I really am a class A bitch.

"Woah, what's wrong with you?" He questioned as he backed away in his seat a little. Great, I had managed to scare him off as well.

"You've been telling everyone to stop asking me that question because you know how horrible it makes me feel and you think it's okay for you to ask it, right?" That stupid part of me just wouldn't shut up. "Well, it's not!" 

His hands were up in surrender as he edged closer to me as though I was a bomb that was ready to go off at any second. "Hey, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Forgive me?" Oh, I wanted to simply throw my arms around his neck and apologise profusely, but my body wouldn't do that. All I did was fix him with another hard glare and open my mouth to say something else that was uncalled for.

The only reason the harsh words didn't come out was because I was stopped in my tracks once the door opened and in came the new boy. His dark hair hung over his eyes slightly before his piercing blue eyes settled on mine. I attempted a smile at him, but I got absolutely nothing in return.

The boy simply broke eyes contact with me and stalked to his seat which was beside my own. That was the seat that Andre used to occupy. It didn't feel right to have someone else take his spot. It didn't feel right to have such a heartless kid take Andre's place.

Adrian was no longer trying to get me to forgive him. He was watching the kid exactly like I was, his expression being one of scrutiny. At least I wasn't the only one that was freaked out by him. At least others felt strange about him…knew something was wrong with him.

After what felt like hours of uncomfortable silence, his eyes fell on ours again. This time I didn't try and smile at him. It would have been a wasted attempt anyway. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this kid wasn't aiming to be friends with us.

"I'm sorry" He stated. His voice was soft and smooth like silk, but I could hear the crack in it at the end as though he was going to start crying. Either this kid felt sorry for being bad mannered to us and he was really emotionally unstable or he had done something to us that we hadn't figured out yet.

"Why are you sorry?" I asked, my voice almost taking on the tone that a mother would use with her child. "You haven't done anything wrong. Have you?" His eyes stayed trained on us before he shook his head and returned to the work he was doing.

Frustration grew inside of me, but I knew it wasn't worth trying to argue something out of him. With a shake of my head, I turned back to Adrian and gave him a weird look.

"You know, some people are so fucked up around here" I sniggered. Yes, it was a low blow, but I couldn't stop it from coming out of my mouth. I felt him tense up next to me and I just knew that he was going to be glaring at me. To be fair, if someone had said that about me, I would have thrown them across the room.

"I agree" He snapped. "Some people are fucked up." With that said, he gave me another glare before turning to face away from me. Ah, at least he's showing some human emotion.

**Ah, so we have some insight to Christian. I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter and it looks like I'm able to stick to my system. Please leave a review **


	19. Chapter 19

Redemption

**Thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed on the last chapter and please keep the feedback coming. Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!**

Chapter Nineteen

Ever since I had said those things to Christian, I had been scolded by pretty much every single one of my friends. Adrian had been shocked, but he was the only one who had found my insult remotely funny. Dimitri was irritated by my irrational behaviour. He was beginning to feel as though I was changing…he thought it was like I had been badly affected by the stunt we pulled to get me out of my mother's grasp.

"Why the hell did you do that?" A voice behind me snapped as I sat at the lunch table with Adrian and Jesse. My eyes rolled. A habit that I should probably break, but hell, I didn't really care too much anymore.

"Lissa, please don't give me a hard time about this" I begged as I buried my head deeply into my hands. I did this every time someone was right and I was wrong. It was something that I didn't like admitting, so I attempted to shy away from it. Lissa was right. What I did to Christian was out of order and if I had any decency, I would go and apologise to him, but that was one thing that I was a coward on.

"No, you deserve to be given a hard time" She grumbled as she took the seat next to me and stared daggers at me. "Come on, you're usually so nice to people" Ah, Lissa. She always saw the best in people no matter what kind of horrible act they had committed.

"I know I am" I sighed. Okay, I may not be the nicest person on the planet, but I would never act like that normally. "I just couldn't help it. He was freaking me out. I'm sorry, Lissa"

"It's not me you should be apologising to" She sighed as she pointed over to his direction. He sat alone at one of the lunch tables, his eyes trained on the floor. Anyone who walked past him, looked at him awkwardly and moved on. Jesus, high school kids were harsh. For a moment, I felt pity for the guy. He had just moved to this school and I was giving him a hard time for it. God, it wasn't so long ago that was in the same boat as him.

"Fine, I'll go" I sighed, not waiting for a reply as I got up and stalked off to Christian's table. The chair that I pulled out made a scarping noise as it dragged across the wooden flooring. Christian's head snapped up at the sound, his eyes resting on me. He didn't look too happy to see me to say the least. To be fair, who can really blame him after what I said to him.

"What do you want?" He huffed as I took my seat next to him. He looked like a young child who had had an argument with his friend. I hated to be the cause of that.

"To apologise to you" I sighed as I leaned on the table. This wasn't the kind of thing that I did very often…it was hard for me. "I honestly don't have a clue why I said those things to you. It was bitchy and cruel and you should absolutely hate my guts. I'm sorry. It's just that I'm going through a tough time at the minute."

"I know" Christian commented. "I know that you're going through a tough time." The look of confusion on my face must have been evident. "Um, I mean…I heard about Andre. It seems as though everyone in this school's talking about you"

"Yeah, I guess they are" I sighed. "I pulled a stupid stunt. I ran away from home with Dimitri. My mother was going to try and take me away." My voice trailed off as I realised what I was doing. "Shit, I wasn't supposed to tell you that"

As if he sensed the fact that I was going to start rambling, he jumped in. "Hey, it's fine. I won't tell anyone. Hell, who have I got to tell?" His joke made me laugh. Perhaps this kid wasn't so bad after all. He seemed amusing. Sardonic, but funny.

"You remind me of someone" I sighed as I studied his face. The dark hair and the blue eyes looked all too familiar. "Have I seen you before?"

"No, you haven't" He replied quickly as he shook his head with haste. "I've never seen you before"

"Oh right, sorry" I mumbled. His reaction had startled me. "I guess you must just have one of those faces. Hey, do you want to come over to sit with us?" He looked over to the table that I had previously been sitting at and his face screwed up tightly. Goodness, I didn't think we were that bad.

"Um, I don't think I should" He answered. "I don't really socialise well" I shook my head at him before standing up and beckoning for him to follow.

"Nonsense" I laughed. "They make anyone feel at home. I was in your position a couple of weeks ago. I was new here and they took me under their wing" Reluctantly, he followed and took the seat next to me, his eyes falling on Lissa. Oh, please don't say he had a crush on her. Dimitri had joined the table since I left. His eyes fell on me and he gave me a weak smile. Things had been pretty awkward between us since I told him that I thought it would be best for us to be just friends.

"Everyone this is Christian" I introduced as I pointed to him.

"It's rude to point" Christian reminded, a small grin playing at his lips. His comment may not have been the funniest, but everyone chuckled. My eyes stole another quick glance at Dimitri, only to see him looking straight at me. His stare was intense as he looked me up and down. It was amazing how much we had progressed in the past few weeks. We started off hating each other, beginning to like each other, hating each other again, liking each other again, getting into a relationship, hating each other once again and then deciding to be just friends. It was times like these when I wondered how I wasn't mental.

"I thought that because you guys took me under your wing when I first moved here you could do the same for Christian" I explained, looking for any kind of reason to escape Dimitri's eyes. Every time I looked at him I just felt too guilty for saying what I said to him.

"As if you even have to ask, Roza" Dimitri answered. The use of 'Roza' made my heart hammer in my chest. His answer forced me to look at him once more. A smile graced his face as he nodded towards Christian. "He can hang out with us if he wants"

"Oh, thank you" Christian said sarcastically. "I didn't know I needed permission to hang out with you guys"

"You don't" Dimitri said to him, a confused look marring his face. "Rose just thought you looked lonely over there. She was only trying to be nice"

"Sorry, I'm slightly socially awkward" He explained as he grinned at us. "It should be an illness." Something told me that this guy wasn't used to the idea of people actually wanting to be his friend. This fact being revealed made me feel even more guilty about what I said to him.

"It's fine, I am too" I joked, attempting to shake the feeling of guilt from me. For once, I was beginning to feel happy and I wanted to keep it that way. The awkward glances from Dimitri weren't going to ruin that for me. I was adamant that they wouldn't.

"Hey, are you coming to the arcade after school?" Lissa asked. Oh, I hadn't been to that place in years. It used to be my hangout when I was younger and thought I was the coolest person on the planet. "There's a bunch of us going. Christian, you can come too"

"Sure" Christian and I both chorused. It had been so long since I last went out with friends and just enjoyed the night before something had a chance to ruin it.

"Great, we're heading there straight after school." She informed before turning back to the cookie she was nibbling on. Tonight was going to be gun. I would make sure of it.

…

Once the end of the day had arrived, I had never been so happy to get out. The arcade wasn't too far away from the school. Only a few turns and we would be there. I walked in line with Dimitri, Lissa and Christian. Well, Christian and Lissa were deep in their own conversations. It didn't take long for them to split off into a separate group.

"I think they like each other" Dimitri commented as he nodded in the direction of Lissa and Christian. The pair were laughing about something and the looks they gave each other were unmistakable. She liked him and he sure as hell liked her.

"Hmm, hopefully one relationship will work out" I sighed as I watched them intently. Seeing them acting like this with each other made me jealous. Not of Lissa having Christian, but of two people just having fun and being with each other. I wanted that. I wanted to like someone and not have any worries or stresses about it.

"I wish it was ours" Dimitri whispered. That was something that I had hoped he wouldn't bring up tonight. I didn't feel like dwelling on us.

"Dimitri…"I began, but he raised a hand to stop me. A smile was on his face, despite his words.

"Forget I even said anything" He laughed. "Come on, you can try and beat me at pool" His hand grasped mine as he pulled me over to one of the pool tables. I had missed touching his warm skin even if it was only for a moment.

He racked up the balls and took his place at the head of the table to break. The power he held was amazing. Every time he took a shot, his muscles flexed. Hell, I said it was best to be just friends, but that didn't mean I wasn't allowed to check him out, right? He gave me advice on how to play, never doing the cliché thing of helping the girl take her shot. I enjoyed that. It wasn't romantic. Simply flirty and innocent. At that moment, I realised that I had my wish. It was innocent and there were no worries. There were no problems to deal with. It felt like we were starting on a new slate.

"How the hell did you even mess up that shot?" He laughed as he watched me lose. With one quick stroke, he potted the black ball and gave me a smug smile. "You lose."

"You're so smug, it's pathetic" I chuckled as I moved over to ice hockey game to watch Jesse and Adrian play.

"Me? Pathetic? Never" He laughed as he stood next to me. "You seem to be having fun. Not worrying anymore" He was simply stating facts, but it felt so much more serious than that. He had picked up on the fact that over the past few days I had been acting very weirdly and now it was like I was morphing back into my old self.

"I am having fun" I confirmed, fixing him with a smile that reached my eyes. It had been so long that the acting almost felt foreign. "I'm okay, Dimitri. I really am"

**Hey, the first nice chapter I've written in a long time. It's been all doom and gloom for ages. I thought they deserved some happiness. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review. Oh, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas XD**


	20. Chapter 20

Redemption

**I just wanted to give a big thank you to anyone who reviewed on the pervious chapter. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter as much and please keep the reviews coming. In this chapter, it will switch to Dimitri's point of view because it's been so long since I did the chapter in his.**

Chapter Twenty

After having the day at the arcade, I started feeling like I was a normal teenager again. I felt as though there was nothing that could possibly go wrong…at least not for now. My biggest worry went back to being about my homework or about Dimitri. My heart only went crazy if Dimitri touched my hand and the only uncertainty I had was when I tried to figure out if he touched it on purpose. It was typical teenage girl problems.

It was no longer worrying about what stunt my mother would pull next and it was no longer worrying about how Lissa was coping with Andre's death. In other words, I felt happy with life for once.

The morning after the arcade, I woke up and the sun was shining through the gaps of the blue curtains in the bedroom that I shared with Lissa. My alarm clock on the bedside table hadn't gone off yet. Surprisingly, I didn't feel fatigued. It was like I was raring to go already even though Lissa, Rhea and Andre were asleep.

My mood instantly plummeted. Forgetting he was dead was one of the worst things to feel in the world. It's like hearing that he's died all over again…but I wasn't ready to let that spoil my day. Mentally, I shook the feeling of guilt from me and busied myself with getting dressed.

As my hands flicked through the clothes in the wardrobe, I decided to wear something with a bit of colour. Everyone around me had grown rather sick of seeing me in all black lately and, to be honest, I had too. If my mood was going to be brightened, then my wardrobe should be too.

"Hmm, what are you doing up so early?" A soft, feminine voice asked from behind me. When I turned, I found Lissa sitting up in bed with her hand rubbing at her eyes in an effort to wake her up a little more. Wow, I never thought I'd see the day where I would be more awake than Lissa was. I guess miracles really can happen.

"Oh, I'm just getting dressed" I answered as I held out two summery dresses. "What do you think looks better? The red or the blue?"

"Holy fuck" She laughed as she looked at them. "Are you seriously going to wear a dress?"

"Language, my child" I grinned. "And yeah, I've worn a dress before. What's the big deal?" My grin could only rise further as I looked at the two dresses in my hands. Even though it was me who told Dimitri that we should just be friends, I couldn't help but feel excited to hear what he says about how I look.

"You just haven't worn a dress in ages" She sighed as she looked at the two choices in front of her eyes. "The blue one. It's more your colour" I discarded of the red dress before changing into the blue. It fell to just before my knees with a brown belt wrapped tightly around the waist. "Jesus, that dress is nice"

"Thanks" I laughed as I looked at the mirror at myself. Only a smidge of makeup and my hair in a bun and I would be all set to go. Dimitri was going to love this. After all, he had only seen me in outfits that made me look frumpy. I had missed my feminine streak and it seemed to be back…back to stay.

By the time we were walking into school, my heart was thumping in my chest as though it was going to explode. I couldn't remember a time where I had ever been this excited. This was quite possibly going to be one of the best moments ever.

"What's go you all itching to go into school?" Lissa asked as we sat at the picnic benches and waited for more students to come in.

"No reason, I just felt like making an effort with myself today. "Is that such a crime?"

"No it isn't…hang on" She sighed once she had figured it out. "This is all for Dimitri, isn't it" I didn't even have to answer her. My grin was enough. She laughed loudly, her head going back. "Rose, you're so silly" She laughed.

"No, I'm not" I defended just as Christian sat down opposite us. Lissa seemed to straighten up, flatten her hair and smile even more as she greeted him. Ha! Who was being silly now?

I was so sucked up in watching the way that Lissa acted around Christian that I didn't even notice the seat next to me was now occupied.

"Are you wearing a dress?" The voice asked. My head snapped around to see Dimitri sitting right next to me, his eyes scanning me up and down. It seemed that I had gotten the reaction that I had been wanting. His eyes turned cloudy as he inspected me once more.

"Yes" Was all I could say. His eyes finally moved away from my body and looked straight at me.

"Hmm, you look good" He stated before joining in the conversation that Christian and Lissa were having. It looks like I didn't quite get the reaction that I was expecting. Well, if he doesn't care...wait a minute…that cheeky little bastard. I knew exactly what he was doing. If he thought that I was falling for it, he was sadly mistaken.

He was attempting to make me believe that he didn't care. He was trying to make me think that he was completely over me…but I knew that he wasn't. If I wasn't over him, then he sure as hell wasn't going to be. This little game was fun…very interesting. Knowing me, it would probably end badly, but I was going to play it anyway.

_Dimitri's Point Of View_

Good God, she looked amazing in the dress. I had always been one of the guys that checked a girl out and rated them out of ten because that was what the rest of the group did and I wanted to fit in, but Rose was simply off the chart. She wasn't the kind of girl who had to show a lot of skin to look beautiful. In fact, the dress made her look elegant...I'd go as far as to say it made her look captivating.

But I wasn't going to let her think that.

No, she told me that she thought it would be best to stay as just friends. So, a simple compliment would do…and of course stolen glances at her when she wasn't looking. As soon as I had spoken to her, I went straight back to talking to Christian and Lissa, but their conversation was nowhere near as interesting as looking at Rose.

"Hmm, he's cute" I heard Rose say from next to me as her eyes travelled towards one of the kids in our year. I had never spoken to him before, but I knew he was a player…the kind of guy that girls shouldn't even be allowed to go near with a barge pole.

Anger bubbled up inside of me. No way was he good enough to have a girl as pretty and sweet as Rose like him. Her eyes met mine as she grinned. Oh, that was what she was doing. She was trying to beat me at my own game. This just doesn't happen. All of my life, I had been the one to win at things like this. I guess that's why I'm attracted to her. She's fiery, feisty and incredibly daring.

"I know what you're doing" I whispered to her as I met her grin with my own. I couldn't believe that she actually thought that was going to work. Her face fell for a split second leaving me to wonder if I had just imagined it. A smirk then rose to her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about" She stated, standing up from the bench and strutting straight over to the guy at the other side of the courtyard. Oh god, what the hell was she doing?

As I watched them, I felt my fists clench as they talked and talked for what felt like agonizing hours. Oh, she is such a sneaky girl. Her hands rested on his arms as they spoke and I could tell that he was enjoying every minute of it.

"Dude, are you alright?" Christian asked. My trance was broken as I turned to face him. All the muscles in my body were clenched and I guessed that I looked pretty pissed at something.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I lied as I let my eyes travel back to the pair in front of me. She may be the most annoying bitch in the entire world sometimes, but she is amusing. Her eyes kept travelling back to me. Each time I gave her a little wave, but she simply rolled her eyes back.

"Oh, I'm guessing you like Rose" Christian sighed as he looked over to where my eyes were trained. Seems like I must be making it pretty obvious.

"No, not at all" I lied once more. "I just want to make sure she's okay. Everyone knows that that guy shouldn't be messed with." Just as I was saying those words, she sauntered back over to our table with a wide smile on her face.

"Josh is a really nice guy" She laughed as her eyes fell on me once more. My mum always told me not to rise to the bait, but it was just so hard when it came to Rose. All I wanted to do was prove to her that I was going to win this fight if it was the last thing I did. Damn her for being so persistent.

"He's a prick, Rose" I stated as the bell rang and students began moving to their respected classrooms.

"You know, you shouldn't say those kinds of things about people that you don't even know" She lectured as we walked through the corridors together. Oh, so now she decides to turn into the nice girl. She is so preposterous sometimes. "It's very rude."

"Don't say I didn't warn you" I sighed all too aware that Josh was right behind us.

"By the way, that dress makes your ass look good" Josh whispered in her ear before strutting further down the corridor and into his classroom.

"Now, I would say that that was rude, but it's your call" I said as she just glared. It didn't take a genius to work out that she didn't appreciate what Josh had just said, but it wasn't enough to make her drop out of the game.

"It was a compliment, Dimitri" She grumbled before disappearing off into her classroom, leaving me alone in the corridor. Well, this was a hell of a lot more fun that I had expected.

**Yes, I'm quite away that this wasn't the best chapter I've written, but I decided to put it up anyway. It's mainly just a filler and just to show that not everything between Rose and Dimitri are that serious and that they can still have some fun. Above all else, it's to show their flirty sides once more and to start rebuilding a relationship between the two. Anyway, I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter and I'll try and include Dimitri's point of view a little more as you seemed to like that in the last chapter that was in his. Oh, and it seems that I'm getting quicker on my updates XD Hope you liked it!**


	21. Chapter 21

Redemption

**Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed on the previous chapter. It's so nice to see that everyone likes the change in the tone of this story. I can tell you now that there will be a few more fun chapters like this, but it'll soon be going back into the drama of it all, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Well, it'll still be pretty flirty and please keep the reviews coming!  
><strong> 

Chapter Twenty-One

The next morning, I allowed myself enough time to pick out some nice clothes and take some time to do my make-up and hair. If I wanted to continue winning the game that I had going on with Dimitri, I would need to make sure that I dressed the part…I would have to make sure that I looked good enough to break someone's heart. Perhaps heels weren't the best way to go about it, but I'd always heard that beauty was pain.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Lissa asked as she turned over in bed with her eyes clamped shut tightly. Who would have thought that I would be switching placed with Lissa? Maybe I shouldn't have opened the curtains when it was this bright.

"No, I know it's not wise at all, but I don't particularly care" I laughed. It was probably rather selfish of me, but oh well. I'd done enough of protecting everyone else. It was time to look out for myself for a change. "When you're at this age, nothing you do is wise. It's just a bit of fun" _fun. _The word sounded foreign coming from my lips. It had been so long that I had experienced it, but it felt good. Hell, better than just good. "Why don't you make a bit of an effort for Christian?"

Suddenly, it seemed that she wasn't so tired anymore. She sat up abruptly in bed and stared straight at me. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked before clambering out of bed and joining me at the mirror.

"It means that I think you like Christian and I also think that there's a strong chance that he likes you back" I laughed. She glared playfully at me, but the blush that rose to her cheeks showed me that I was probably right.

"I don't like him in that way" She denied as she busied herself with picking out some clothes for the day. "And there is no way in hell that he likes me in that way. Besides, we've only known each other for a couple of days."

"A couple of days are all you need" I sighed, thinking back to when I first met Dimitri. When I first looked at him, I believed that he was the biggest dick in the world and then I realised that he actually was…but that didn't stop him from being sweet at times and being wise…and it sure as hell didn't stop me from being attracted to him.

"Whatever you say, Rose" She muttered. She had never really been the kind of girl to talk about her feelings to me or anyone else. She always thought that she could deal with whatever she was feeling on her own and if she ever did decide to tell someone how she was feeling, she would always feel guilty about it afterwards and believe that she was a burden to everyone. "So, what are you getting up to with Josh?"

"Ah, not much" I grinned as my mind went straight back to the game that I was playing with Dimitri. I couldn't wait to continue where I left off. It was clear to me that he was getting irritated by the way I was acting. It was just a shame that I was physically sickened by Josh. He may be a hot guy, but he is one of the most perverted people I have ever met.

"Rose, you scare me sometimes" Lissa chuckled as we left the bedroom and downstairs to collect our bags and make our way to school. For the first time in my entire life, I was excited to go.

"I have that effect on most people" I agreed as we walked up the pavement in the direction of school. "It's just a bit of fun. It won't take long for Dimitri to tell me that he wants me back"

"But, it was you who told him that you just wanted to be just friends with him" Lissa reminded, a look of confusion sweeping over her face.

"That's true" I agreed. Most people would believe that I didn't have the right to start fooling around once more with Dimitri, but I just couldn't keep myself away from him not matter how much I told myself that it just wasn't fair. "But I made a mistake. Everyone makes a mistake at some point in their lives. I'm trying to make up for it now"

"This is going to end up in heartbreak" Lissa voiced as she shot me a look of warning. It seemed that she had just voiced my worst fear. I didn't want to fuck this up again. Hell, I'd done that enough times already.

"It won't if I go the right way about it" I assured both for Lissa and myself. Perhaps if I kept saying that, it would be true. Lissa didn't look very convinced, but thankfully, she chose to ignore that feeling and just let me get on with it. She had known me for years. She knew that if she tried to talk me out of doing something, it only made me more likely to go ahead and do it anyway.

"Whatever you say, Rose" She sighed. Hmm, she'd said that a lot this morning.

By the time we arrived at school, my heart was thumping violently and my palms were sweating as though I had limbs made of fountains. Oh goodness, this was so not attractive.

"Hey, sugar" A rough voice said from behind me as Josh slipped into the seat beside me. It took every ounce of my strength to refrain from shuddering at his closeness, but I managed it.

"Hi, Josh" I greeted, flashing him a complete fake smile. "How are ya today?" Oh god, this did not suit me one bit. I was always so laid back and careless. What on earth was with me when I was around this prick of a guy?

"Ya know" Was all he replied with a shrug. All brawn and no brain, I see. As the conversation wore on, it seemed that he was incapable of stringing together a proper sentence. All he could talk about was wrestling or how hot he thought he was.

"So, how was training yesterday?" I asked, even though I didn't care one bit about his wrestling antics. Wasn't most of wrestling fake, anyway?

"Same old" He answered, his voice droning on. "Did suplex" Well, here's me thinking it was he did _a _suplex…but apparently not. Josh knows all about grammar.

"Oh, that must have been so fun" I cheered, faking excitement, trying my hardest not to laugh at Lissa rolling her eyes. "And it must have been so hard to do"

"Not really" He retorted. Wow! He made it so hard to have a conversation.

As soon as Dimitri sat down, relief swept over me. Perhaps I could actually have a mature conversation for once.

"Hey guys" He sighed as he took the seat opposite Josh and eyes him suspiciously.

"Oh hey, Dimitri" I greeted smiling warmly at him before turning my attentions back to Josh. "You've just missed Josh telling us all about how he did a suplex yesterday. Isn't that great?"

"Suplex?" Dimitri questioned. "Isn't that like a beginner move? What did you just learn how to do a side walk slam too? Dude, everybody can do that" The look on Josh's face made me almost lose the plot. Goodness, he looked hilarious. It seemed as though Dimitri had managed to beat Josh at his own game.

"What's it to ya?" Josh grunted.

"What are you? A caveman?" Dimitri asked, fixing him with a hard glare. "Learn how to enunciate, moron. God, what the hell do you see in him, Roza" The familiar nickname sent a pang of longing hurtling straight through my entire body. Why couldn't we just admit that we felt something for each other and move on from these stupid games?

"Play nice, Dimitri" I muttered under my breath, shooting him a threatening stare. Ha, he actually believed that I cared about Josh. It looks like my plan is working out then. Reluctantly, he nodded. What!? He wasn't supposed to do that! He was supposed to fight for me and call Josh all the names under the sun. He was supposed to fucking fight! Oh…so he was making me believe that he didn't care. Surely, that had to be what he was doing. Well, the guy was smart…I'd give him that.

_Dimitri's point of view_

Seeing Rose even sit anywhere near that fool Josh made me want to throw up. The scene before me looked dreadful. She shouldn't be all over him and congratulating him on all of these different wrestling moves that a monkey could do. She's so much more sophisticated than that.

She should be sitting next to me and we should be talking about where we going to go on our next date and we should be living life as though it's our last day…we shouldn't be doing this.

"Hey, you guys coming out to the arcade again tomorrow?" Lissa asked, finally pulling out of her conversation with Christian.

"Yeah, I've got nothing better to do with my Saturday" I joked before turning to face Rose, actually quite looking forward to hearing what her answer would be. I couldn't tell if she was going to tear herself away from her new toy.

"Yeah, I'll go" She answered before looking at Josh. "Hey, do you want to come to the arcade tomorrow?"

"The arcade?" He asked as though he wasn't familiar with the word. Can this guy be any more stupid? "Isn't that where kids go?" You are a kid, you nimrod. Well, you act like one. "Sure, it'll be fun"

Oh goodie. The prick gets to go. What had I signed myself up for? It hit me then. This could be the perfect opportunity to win the game. This could be the moment where I prove to Josh that's he's an eejit and also win Rose's heart in the process. If I played my cards right, this could all go down incredibly well.

All I had to do was keep pretending to Rose that I didn't care about what she did with Josh and then I'd manage to make him look like a fool at the arcade and she'd fall mindlessly in love with me. Well, something along those lines anyway. Knowing how it goes with us, it'll get screwed up along the way. Hell, it always does.

"You're planning something" Lissa whispered to me once Rose had went back to drooling over Josh. There was no way I could stop the grin from rising to my face.

"When am I not planning something, Lissa?" I joked, flashing her a bright smile. This game was more fun than it looked.

"Fair point" She sighed, looking sick of my childish games with Rose. Oh well, it seemed as though I could win this one and I intended to act on it.

"Don't worry, Lissa" I mumbled. "This will all end soon enough" _This really was war._

**Again, another flirty chapter as you all seemed to enjoy the previous one and you guys deserve it for all this reviewing and reading you're doing! :D Anyway, I just want to say thank you to anyone who reviewed on the last chapter and I hope you all enjoy this chapter just as much. I'm going to try and get in another quick update before I go back to school and start my exams XD**


	22. Chapter 22

Redemption

**I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter…they were all absolutely amazing and I hope you all enjoy this chapter which will take place in the arcade. Anyway, I'll get on with it now. Hope you all like it!**

Chapter Twenty-Two

My excitement could barely be contained as I got dressed in the afternoon. A whole night in Dimitri's company! What on Earth had I done to deserve this!? The arcade was great the last time we went, but we couldn't stay for long due to it being a school night. Tonight, it was a different story. There was no curfew. There were no rules.

Even so, I dressed in clothes that were still respectable…a blue playsuit and a pair of sandals. It would still be a treat for Dimitri's eyes, but it wouldn't make me freeze to death.

"I have never seen you look so happy" Lissa laughed as she tied her up in a bun before perching on the end of the bed to observe me do my hair.

"Come on, this is going to be a fun night" I sighed before turning to face her once more, barely able to keep the smirk off my face. She knew exactly why this was going to be such a fun night.

"Rose, Josh is here" I heard Rhea call up the stairs. It seemed that that was the only perk of having Josh as a date…he has a car. 

"Oh goodie, brain dead is here" Lissa grumbled, grabbing her bag before following me downstairs. Josh stood at the bottom, legs spread wide and a smirk on his face. His hair fashioned a quiff and he wore a blazer with dark jeans. Typically, he was every girls dream, but he just made me irritated when my eyes fell on him.

"You ready to go?" He drawled. Forcing a smile, I gave him a curt nod and hooked my arm with his.

"I'll see you later, Rhea" I sighed, wishing it wasn't Josh that I had to go with. He's real cute and everything, but after two minutes of talking to him you find that he has a rather limited vocabulary. Rhea eyed Josh warily before waving goodbye to us.

…

Josh's car was horrible. I'm not even kidding. I would have much rather walked to the arcade in my playsuit rather than get in this car with him, but I had to keep the game going with Dimitri…and that meant showing up with Josh as though I was completely in love with him even though I was as far away from that emotion as was possible. It was filled with empty cartons of takeaway food and empty drink bottles. What had I gotten myself into?

By the time we were there, the stench had almost made my eyes bleed. Luckily, Dimitri was already here along with Christian, Adrian, Mason, Eddie and Jesse. It felt like ages since I had last spoken to them and seeing their familiar faces caused my face to split into a wide smile.

"Hey, Rose" He greeted, fixing me with a smug grin once he saw my facial expression. Man, he was enjoying every moment of this. I slipped inside the booth next to him and took a sip of his drink. His scent was a hell of a lot better than the car. In fact, his scent was intoxicating.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Lissa asked once she was sat next to Christian.

"I think we'll just play pool for and ice hockey for the night" Adrian laughed, pulling out of his interesting conversation with Mason.

"Sounds good to me" I sighed, turning to face Dimitri. "So, you want to play pool?" His smirk answered the question for me. God, he was a smug twat sometimes.

"Sure thing" He answered, pushing past Josh to get out of the booth. Well, I at least expected Josh to ask where I was going or what I was doing…apparently not. "Are you ready to be beaten again?"

"Shut up" I laughed, taking the cue in my hands and getting ready to break. For how bad I was at playing this game, the break wasn't too bad.

"Not bad, Hathaway" Dimitri complimented as he brushed past me to take his shot. By the look on his face, I could tell that he made contact on purpose. "It's still not good enough, though" And so the game went on. I made pitiful shots and Dimitri made excellent ones, never ceasing on brushing past me and ensuring that we made skin contact.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" I questioned, watching him with amazement. He flicked his hair out of his eyes and looked up at me as he aligned his final shot.

"A little bit" He chuckled, the sound sending chills through my body as he took the shot. "I win."

"I'll beat you at ice hockey" I mumbled, already pulling him over to the table and putting the coins in the slot. "I'm a beast at this game" I was pretty good at this game, yet Dimitri was still proving to be a match for me.

"What are you doing here with that prick?" Dimitri asked as he nodded in the direction that Josh was sitting, looking bored out of his mind.

"He's not a prick" I said defensively, secretly basking in the fact that he sounded jealous.

"Yeah, he is" He laughed. "And you haven't answered my question" I hadn't been anticipating the question and it left me at a loss for words. How could I say why I was here with him without letting on what I was really doing?

"He's hot and I'm a teenage girl" I answered. "Shouldn't that be explanation enough?" A grin rose to his face and he leaned into me.

"Am I not hot enough for you, Roza" He breathed, the cool air sweeping over me as his hand fell onto my shoulder, his arm sneaking around my waist. Oh goodness, I hadn't been expecting this. What the hell was I supposed to say this!? God, please help me!

"Oh no, you're hot" I gulped as his face pressed against mine along with his hips. Oh sweet Jesus. "You're very hot actually"

"Then what's the problem?" He asked, his delicate fingers tracing circles in my lower back and the game of ice hockey was then forgotten.

"I…um…forgot" I whispered, racking through my brain to remember what I was even doing.

"Hmm, me too" He mumbled before he pushed his hips roughly against me and I went tumbling.

Darkness surrounded me and my back was pushed against something that felt oddly like a mop.

"Did you just push me into the cleaning cupboard?" I asked, squinting to get a better look at my surroundings, but it was impossible to see anything.

"Yes" He answered gruffly before I felt his lips press against mine. He was all that was on my mind. The same scent I could smell in the booth came washing over me once more, making me light-headed and weak. For a moment, I was unresponsive…completely unsure of what was happening. It didn't take long for me to match his force with one of my own.

Balling his shirt up in my fists, I pulled him closer to me before wrapping my arms around his neck. He pushed the mop away before wedging me firmly between his body and the wall, his hands gripping my neck to keep me from moving away.

His tongue ran over my bottom lip, practically begging for admittance and I was no longer in the mood to tease him. I opened my mouth and let him in. I'd missed this…this closeness with him. He pulled away for a moment before pressing a soft kiss to my lips and pulling me into his arms.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to do that?" He asked, all trace of humour gone as he pulled me down to sit on the floor with him in between his legs, my head resting in the crook of his neck as his hands went back to tracing circles on my back.

"Hmm, I think I know how long" I sighed, pressing soft kisses to his neck, my hand slipping under his shirt to rest on bare skin. Jesus, he was boiling.

"We need to make a deal" He whispered in my ear, his teeth nipping at the lobe. How did he have this effect on me? The smallest contact with him made my heart race and my senses go into overdrive. It just wasn't fair.

"What kind of deal" I asked, slipping my hand out from under his shirt and lacing his fingers with mine.

_Dimitri's point of view_

I guess it's safe to say I didn't really stick to the exact same plan as I had said I was going to do. Well, it seemed to work out for the best this way.

Having Rose sit with me on the manky floor of the cleaning cupboard was simply surreal…to feel her lips on my neck and her hands on my stomach was one of the nicest things I had ever felt in my life…to hold hands with her whilst I kissed her head was the sweetest thing.

"We need to promise to not get too serious like we did last time" I said, keeping her close to me at all times. "We need this to be laid back at first. We've been doing great the past few days and we need to keep it like this"

Her lips silenced me.

"Shut up, Dimitri" She laughed, running her hands gently through my hair. "Deal" For once, it seemed as though my life was actually going well for once…and I technically won the game.

"So…you gonna kiss me again?" She asked…I could hear the grin in her voice. God, it was weird to hear those words come out of her mouth. Her head tilted up and I pressed a soft kiss to her lips before the door cracked open and the light seeped in from the arcade. Our heads snapped up to see Josh standing in the doorway.

"Dude, this isn't the bathroom" He stated as though it wasn't obvious…his eyes then fell on us and his face split into a grin. "Get in there, mate" He jeered before leaving as he laughed.

"Does that guy get more and more stupid as every day goes on?" I asked as I gave Rose a ludicrous look.

"How insulting!" She exclaimed. "I was supposed to be his date tonight"

"Well, you're my date now, Roza" I sighed. Needed? No. Cheesy? Oh, yeah.

"Where did that nickname actually come from?" She asked curiously.

"It's your name in Russian" I answered, hoping she wouldn't think I was weird for calling her that.

"Aw, you're sweet" She giggled, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before standing up and taking my hand in her own. "Come on, the others will be wondering where we got to" As I stood up, I met her lips in a kiss one last time. "You need to stop doing that. I can't concentrate"

"Concentrating is for losers" I laughed. "Hmm, you taste nice" The sentiments were silly, but still…they made her happy.

She pulled the door open before lacing our hands together and strutting out with me by her side, simply smiling at our friends in the booth that couldn't believe what they were seeing. Ah, this was a good day.

**And it finally happened! But by no means is this the end for them XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter…I have a feeling that you might have. Please leave some feedback XD I'm going back to school on Tuesday, so updates may be a bit slower, but as soon as the January exams are done, I should be able to update quicker! Hope you liked it!**


	23. Chapter 23

Redemption

**Wow! The responses to the previous chapter were absolutely amazing and I have also chosen to take on board the suggestions of others. Oh, and I guess I'm probably putting a lyric on each of these chapters. After all, I do it for all of my other stories. This chapter will follow on exactly from the last one. I hope you all enjoy! Oh, almost forgot! The January exams have finished, so I should be able to update a lot quicker than I have been. I think my next exam is in March.**

**Lyric: What about us? What about love? What about saying that we never give up?**

Chapter Twenty-Three

_Lissa's point of view_

I was talking with Christian when I saw everyone whip their heads to face the cleaning cupboard and then I saw Dimitri and Rose emerge from it with their hands clasped together. What the hell had I missed this time? It seemed that I only had to turn my back for five minutes and she was back with him. Well, if she's happy then I guess that's all that matters.

Christian's eyes went wide when they fell on the courting couple. "Since when was she with him?" He asked.

"It's probably best that you don't ask that question" I laughed as I watched them walk over to the pool table with smiles on their faces. "Half of the time, I can't even keep up to date with them."

"Hmm, perhaps it would just be best to keep my nose out of their business" Christian agreed before flashing me a cheeky grin. "Besides, I have you to focus on"

"Ah, you are so persistent" I giggled as I trained my eyes on the table, feeling my face heating up with every second. I wasn't exactly used to attention from guys…especially not guys as sweet as Christian. I had no clue how I was supposed to react.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that" Christian mumbled, his eyes falling to the floor as a light blush crept to his cheeks. Too cute!

_Rose's point of view_

It still felt as though my lips were on fire. How was it possible that a bit of lip action with Dimitri could do something like this to me? It felt nice to be the centre of attention for a good thing. Hell, I wasn't used to it. I had always been in the spotlight for being a troublemaker. Now everyone was acting questions about how I felt when I was around Dimitri and what had happened in the cleaning cupboard. People were genuinely interested in something good that had happened to me. I didn't think it was possible.

"I'm guessing you're back on again" Adrian commented as he took his shot at the pool table. It seemed to me that he was getting ready to have some sort of serious conversation with me. As selfish as this may sound, I didn't want to hear it. It had taken me so long to get to this point with Dimitri and all I wanted was to enjoy it.

"Yeah, I guess we are" I mused as my eyes fell on where Dimitri stood at the air hockey table. His hands were clasped across his chest as he laughed with Christian. It was simply astounding to see him act so carefree around people now. It was even hotter than his usual serious self. "We're not making too big a deal out of it, though. We don't want things to end the way they did last time"

"Hmm, well that Belikov is one lucky man" Adrian noted, his eyes falling on me as he gave me a curt nod. In the short time that he had known this guy, I had never once seen him act like this…a true gentleman.

"What brought this on?" I laughed, giving him a ludicrous shake of the head. "You're not acting like the usual Adrian that I know."

"Oh, thanks" He chuckled. "Really nice to know how you feel about me. No respect in this world."

"I love you, Adrian" I sighed. He pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before turning to leave.

"I love you too, Rose" He called before retuning back to the group at the tables. Ah, life felt good.

_Dimitri's point of view_

Words couldn't describe how weird yet amazing it was to go over to Rose and simply kiss her without experiencing any feelings of regret. It was going to take a lot of time to get used to it, but I couldn't wait for it.

"Dude, Rose is so fucking hot tonight" A voice said from behind me. I turned to see the one and only Josh standing right behind me. Did someone smack him in the head? Did he not see us in the cupboard?

"What are you talking about?" I asked, probably sounding more stupid than he had been lately.

"Rose. Looks. Hot. Tonight." He spelled out as though I was the moron here. "Hmm, maybe I'll have to talk to her if you get what I'm saying."

"Rose is with me, Josh" I declared, turning to face him properly. "You missed your chance with her. You go near her, I swear to God I'll kill you" Yep, my rage was coming back, but at that moment I didn't care. I'd waited so long for my chance with Rose and this freak wasn't going to ruin it for me.

"I'll believe that when I see it" He scoffed, pushing past me and heading straight in the direction of Rose. "I'll see you later." I couldn't stand the thought of him even going anywhere near her.

"Hey, Josh" I called, knowing this was probably a bad idea and I was going to get a ridiculous amount of shit off Rose later for doing it…yet I couldn't help myself. As soon as he turned to face, I plunged my fist deep into his cheek. It had been a long time since I last punched someone and I hadn't been used to it. Jesus, my hand hurt.

The room went silent as Josh fell to the floor. All faces were turned to face me and all jaws were practically hitting the floor. Well, this was awkward.

_Adrian's point of view_

As soon as I saw Rose and Dimitri come out of the cleaning cupboard, I had believed that this was all going to be recipe for disaster. Hell, how could it not be? After what had happened the last time they had feelings for each other, I was completely in my right mind to believe that shit was going to end up hitting the fan…once again.

Well, I was wrong. Kind of.

Shit did hit the fan, but Dimitri dating Rose was not a recipe for disaster. As soon as Josh made a move to start hitting on Rose again, Dimitri had jumped right into action and clocked him one. In my eyes, that's dedication in the finest form. He seemed to be willing to do almost anything for her if it meant that she would be kept safe. That's what a relationship is.

As soon as the punch was thrown, everyone became intrigued and not a word was said as everybody watched Josh clamber back up off the floor. This must have sucked for Dimitri.

"Well, it was about time someone did that to Josh, right?" I questioned, attempting to make things less awkward for him. Well, it wasn't a really a secret that most people found Josh annoying. Hell, I'd got as far to say that most people hated that guy. He was a pompous git that most people would rather they lived a life without having to put up with him.

"Yeah, that's true" Christian agreed, sensing what I was doing. From there, it didn't take too long for most people to agree and move on as Josh stormed off. Well, this could have gone a whole lot worse. And then there was Rose. She was still shocked. Her jaw was still hanging open as she looked at the spot on the floor where Josh had fell. Oh, Dimitri was going to have to work hard to get her to forgive him.

_Rose's point of view_

How the hell had that even happened? I thought everything had been going alright. I thought that for once I was going to have an evening without any sort of drama. I had sincerely hoped that no one was going to disrupt that.

A hand groped for my own before pulling me away from where everyone else was. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was Dimitri.

"Okay, I know exactly what you're going to say" He began, but he was totally wrong.

"No, you don't" I sighed. "You have no clue what I'm going to say" I watched as his eyes flickered in confusion as he tried to figure out how mad I was at him.

"Okay, you're probably going to say that everything I did there was unacceptable and that you don't want to be with me anymore" He rambled. "You're going to say it was all a mistake and that I'm pathetic for getting so jealous and bringing all of our problems coming straight back"

"I was right" I chuckled. "You don't have a clue what I'm going to say"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I wasn't going to say anything like that at all" I answered, fixing him with a warm smile as I wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I was going to say thank you. I was going to say that that was the sweetest thing that any guy has ever done for me. I was also going to say that that was incredibly sexy."

"You are such a tease" He laughed in relief as he pressed me against the wall, his hands pushing into the brick at either side of my head.

"Hmm, you've got that right" I hummed. "It really was sexy, though" I heard and felt his laugh against me.

"I wish we had our own place" He sighed in my ear, pressing kisses against my cheek as he spoke. "I'd get to have my way with you"

"Now that is really sexy" I laughed, pressing my lips firmly against his and giving a heavy sigh. "Sadly we don't have our own place and we probably won't for a long time, so this will have to do for now."

"What we have right now is pretty amazing" He agreed before pulling me roughly against him and attacking my mouth with his. His hands slipped underneath my shirt and rested on my stomach. Just the slightest touch from him managed to make me absolutely freak out. How was that even possible?

"Can you two not keep your hands off each other for five minutes" A feminine voice asked, pulling me and Dimitri away from each other. Ah, I forgot we were here with friends.

"Oh, hey Lissa" I greeted, feeling a blush creep up to my cheeks as I attempted to tame my hair.

"You two are ridiculous" She laughed as she ran a hand through her blonde hair. "It's nice to see you happy, though. Anyway, Adrian's house is empty for the weekend. His parents are on a business trip. There's going to be alcohol and music…perhaps more. You guys in?"

"Of course we're in" I answered without skipping a beat. "It'll be great. Let's go" God, it had been ages since I last went to a house party. Maybe Dimitri and I could get some time alone now.

**Yep, I'm pretty convinced that this chapter was rather bad, but it's been so long since I last updated, so I decided to put it up anyway. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll say now that the next chapter should be pretty good for you all. Please leave a review on your way out! It's much appreciated XD**


	24. Chapter 24

Redemption

**Aw, guys! The feedback from the previous chapter was absolutely excellent. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the reviews coming!**

Lyrics: Will you think that you're alone when no one's there to hold your hand?

Chapter Twenty-Four

_Rose's point of view_

As soon as the sun started to set, we left the arcade and began the walk to Adrian's house. It wasn't a long one and the sky was still slick with heat left over from the afternoon. The small pack moved closely together, knowing that this wasn't exactly the best neighbourhood that one could live in…even though to most other people, we probably looked like the big, scary gang that would mug you. Well, we could look like we could mug you if Adrian didn't have that dang lollipop shoved in his mouth.

"Are you cold?" A gruff voice asked from beside me. I looked up hesitantly to see Dimitri at my side, clasping his hand in mine. For a moment, I was prepared to ask what the hell he was up to before the familiarity seeped back into me. It seemed as though being in a relationship with him was going to be pretty difficult to get used to.

"I'm fine thanks" I answered politely, keeping my eyes trained on the horizon ahead. His hand loosened on mine before he draped his arm over my shoulders, leaning in to whisper something in my ear.

"You know, when I asked that, I was hoping you'd just say you were, so I'd have an excuse to do this" He chuckled in my ear, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek that managed to make my heart beat ridiculously fast.

"Dimitri, do you really think that would have worked?" I questioned as I raised my eyebrows at him, wrapping my arm around his waist. "It's the middle of summer; it's hardly going to be cold"

"Fair play, Hathaway" He agreed as we split off from the main streets and headed into the estates. It didn't take long for us to reach his door before tumbling inside. I always found the start of a party awkward. It was a weird thing to explain. It's the moment when nobody's drunk and no one really knows where to put themselves.

At least I was with a good group of people who kept the drink flowing. Only half an hour later, the games started. "Have you got twister?" Lissa asked. It had never really been one of the party games that I had liked as a kid, but it wasn't so bad when everyone was drunk.

Strangely, Adrian had it. He set it down on the floor and took his place at the spinning board. "Rose, right foot four" He told me. I did as I was told as others were told their command. I had an advantage over the others playing. As a child, I had been into a lot of gymnastics and had excellent balance. Lissa, on the other hand, had been into reading and being musically talented. It came as no surprise that she was out after only three minutes of playing. Christian couldn't handle alcohol very well and was out not long after Lissa. I couldn't tell if it was because he was intoxicated or if it was because the game was no longer as fun if his body wasn't twisting around Lissa's.

"Okay, bitches" Mason grunted as he moved his arm delicately through my legs and around Dimitri's arm. "All this is gonna take is planning and then your ass will be mine" His meticulous planning was rather amusing to myself and the only thing that managed to top it was his feeble attempt at saving himself before his body crumbled to the floor in a messy heap.

"What was that you were saying?" I questioned, a grin residing on my face. "I reckon it's your ass that is mine" He stood up with as much dignity as he could muster.

"We're forgetting that any of that ever happened" He grunted taking a seat on the floor beside Jesse. Now it was only Dimitri that I was opposed with.

"Hey, honey" He chuckled. "I should warn you, I'm very flexible" His wink made me flush a deep red, but I continued to look smug as the spinner was spun once more.

"Rose, right foot yellow" I was ordered.

"Hmm, let's make this interesting" I sighed, stretching my leg over Dimitri's waist and placing it on a yellow circle. "I'm sure I'll manage to win like this"

"Oh, that's how you want to play it, huh?" He laughed, shrugging in carelessness.

"Dimitri, right hand green" Adrian said in the background. Dimitri stretched his arm over me and placed it on the jade circle. His eyes bore down into mine as he practically straddled me. God, why did everything have to be so much hotter when you were drunk?

His eyes were simply too chocolate brown for me to concentrate. He was too close for me to remember anything about balancing. His proximity soon caused me to crumble beneath him, pulling him down with me. After that, it only managed to feel hotter.

His weight should realistically be crushing me, but all I could think about was how amazing it felt to have him sprawled out on top of me. I wanted more days to be like this. Hell, I wanted _every_ day to be like this until the day I died.

"You lose" He stated, giving me another of his signature winks before reluctantly clambering off of my eager body. Jesus, if we were alone in this room I would have already ripped off his shirt.

"Guys, can you be any more trampy?" Adrian questioned, raising his eyebrows in amusement at us as we pushed off the floor. "Jesus, get a room"

"Oh, you're a fine one to talk" Dimitri joked. "We all know what you get up to in your spare time with some of the girls from our school" Even when I was drunk, I managed to be shocked at this. I had always imagined Adrian as being a proper gentleman that would treat a lady right and view his relationship with her as a long-lasting one. I guess I still have a lot to learn about the people that I hang out with. Anything managed to come as a surprise to me lately.

"At least I do that in private" Adrian defended, gesturing towards the now forgotten twister mat. "Unlike some people I know who want all of their friends to see it"

"You're a bad man, Adrian" I mumbled, staring up at him accusingly. "You should treat a lady with respect and walk her up to her door at night and peck her on the cheek. You shouldn't grind your hips to her on a first date and fuck her brains out"

"Oh no…she's doing it again" I heard Lissa comment as she buried her head in her hands.

_Dimitri's point of view_

In all of my years of life, I had never once expected to hear Rose come out with a speech about how women should be treated…and I sure as hell never expected her words to be slurring as she delivered it.

"What do you mean she's 'doing it again?'" I asked as I looked at Rose with mild concern as she glared up at Adrian.

"When Rose gets drunk, she doesn't get all giddy or even depressed" Lissa began to explain as she looked at Rose as though she was just a mere child. "She tries to better the world and picks out the flaws of other people. It's rather awkward really"

"And you" Rose snapped, pointing at Christian. "Why were you so socially awkward when we first met? God, you acted as though you'd killed someone. Don't be so tense damn it"

"Ah, don't listen to her" Lissa sighed. "She doesn't mean any of it"

"Come on, Rose" I laughed, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to myself. "Maybe we should call it a night for you. You can sleep in the guest room" She leaned closer to me as I helped her up the stairs that wound up higher and higher.

We stumbled into the light blue bedroom that was only illuminated by a small lamp on the bedside table. She took my hand in hers and led me to the bed before dropping down heavily onto it. I delicately moved the duvet away from her and watched as she lay down on her back. Just as I turned to leave, her hands shot out and grabbed my wrist.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at my figure.

"Back to the party" I answered, a look of confusion sweeping over my face as she pulled me roughly, causing me to fall on top of her.

"No, you can't go back there" She sighed. "Not when I'm all on my lonesome" Her hands travelled up my back and to my neck where she held on before pushing me down to meet her lips. I knew it was wrong to take advantage of her when she was as drunk as this, but she simply tasted too good for me to refuse.

I lowered myself even further, allowing my hands to lie on the pillow at either side of her head. Her giggle was a heavenly sound as she toyed with my hair in her delicate, graceful fingers.

"Did you know that you taste divine?" She whispered, gathering up the material of my shirt and pushing it up past my head before letting her hands trail back up my back and then resting on my bare waist.

"Hmm, you do too" I commented in between kisses before focusing my attention to her neck. I pressed gentle kisses on either side as she pulled roughly on my hair. Her whimpers only fuelled me to go on. I took pride in knowing that I could make Rose feel like this. I took pride in knowing that it was me who she had her legs locked around.

"Guys what the hell are you two doing up there!?" I heard a voice shout from downstairs. Damn you, Mason. With a heavy sigh, I climbed off the bed and pulled the duvet over Rose, pressing my lips to her head as I pulled my shirt back over my head.

"It seems that I'm needed downstairs" I grumbled, looking down at her in the bed. She fixed me with a pout as she stroked at the chest of my shirt.

"Promise me that soon you'll come up to bed?" She asked as she fixed me with an angelic smile.

"Of course, I will" I chuckled, secretly yearning for the time when I could come back up to bed and pull her into my arms. "Goodnight, Roza" She didn't reply. She was already asleep. Well, aint she just a cutie?

"Dimitri was getting lucky" Adrian jeered once I came back into the living room. All eyes were on me as everyone grinned at what Adrian had said. Normally, I would laugh it off with them, but when it came to Rose I wanted everything to be special.

"No, she was just lecturing me about how you treat women" I retorted. A silly lie, but a good one that made Adrian look worse than me.

"Okay, whatever you say" He chuckled. "We all know what you were up to in that bedroom. We could hear you biting her neck from down here" Well, I guess some things weren't meant to be hidden.

"Shut up, man"

**Jesus, I apologise for leaving it so late to put this up. I guess I've just had one million and one things to do. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I promise you all that I will try and get the next one up a little quicker than this one.**


	25. Chapter 25

Redemption

**Okay, I 'm not even going to try to make an excuse for why this chapter is up so late. Please forgive me for that. Honestly, I'll try my best to get the next chapter up quicker. Ugh, if I take on a depressing attitude during this chapter, I apologise. I've just finished re-reading Blood Promise and I'm distraught XD Hope you all enjoy this chapter and please a review! Oh my goodness, and how amazing is the actor for Dimitri in the movie!?**

**Lyrics: Truth hurts and I'm in pain**

Chapter Twenty-Five

_Dimitri's point of view_

The rest of the night had been a blur to me. I could remember being talked into drinking more and becoming more and more intoxicated by the alcohol that seemed to be slipping down my throat rather quickly. I could then remember clambering into bed with Rose like I had promised her. The details were hazy, though. I was pretty sure that she had woken up once my body was pressed against hers, but she was too out of it to do much. All she did was flip over onto her other side and snuggle closer to me. Unsurprisingly, I didn't complain.

Well, I'd never been one for cuddling, but when it was my Roza who was curled up next to me…well, things changed.

As soon as I attempted to sit up in the small bed, Rose's eyes snapped open and she tightened her grip on my waist.

"What are you doing?" She questioned, looking up at me with those eyes that were impossible to refuse. Instantly, I slipped straight back under the covers and relaxed by her until her grip became less forceful.

"I was just going to get up" I answered, wondering where everyone else was right now. I guessed that they were probably only making up stories about what we were doing when we thought that nobody could hear us.

"Hmm, don't you just want to lie here all day?" She questioned, her voice resembling her dreamy state from the alcohol she had drank last night. As enticing as the idea started, I knew that I couldn't do this. Well, we had to get on with our day and I knew that if we spent all day together, it would probably result in an argument which was the last thing that I wanted right now.

"We need to get up" I sighed regretfully as I slipped back out of the bed. This time she let me, but she kept her eyes trained on me the entire time…only breaking eye contact when raised voices were heard from downstairs.

"Christian, where are you going?" We heard Lissa call from downstairs. In a miniscule amount of time, Rose had clambered out of bed and sat on my lap at the top of the stairs.

"Look, I just need some space" Christian snapped, running his hands through his jet black hair.

"What is wrong with you?" Lissa questioned, somehow still managing to keep the tone that showed that she could never be angry at him. All she could possibly hold in her voice was concern over the clearly distressed boy in front of her. "You've been acting weird ever since Rose got drunk last night"

"I really hoped I wouldn't get mentioned in all of this" Rose muttered, burying her head in the crook of my neck. I ran my hand over her back gently in response as I watched Christian open the front door roughly, casting one glance up the stairs at us. I could have sworn that I saw a flash of sadness in his eyes before he stormed out. This is why people shouldn't drink alcohol. It completely messes with the natural order of things.

"Jesus Christ, what's his problem?" I heard a lazy voice ask. Well, it would be Adrian Ivashkov to be the one to break the silence as everyone attempted to figure out what had gotten into Christian.

"Maybe he just doesn't deal with alcohol as well as we do" Jesse suggested with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. The others seemed to agree, but I was willing to bet my life on the fact that that had absolutely nothing to do with his strange outburst. No, there had to be something more to it…and judging by the look on Rose's face, she felt exactly the same as I did.

_Rose's point of view_

After Christian had stormed out, Dimitri and I attempted to tame our appearances before making an entrance downstairs. As soon as we hit the bottom stair, all heads snapped up to stare at us. Some were smiling and others were vacant.

"Ah, so the dashing couple finally make an appearance" Adrian commented, his usual sloppy grin forming on his face. "I wonder what you two got up to last night"

"Nothing like that, Adrian" I sighed, taking a seat on the sofa next to Lissa. She had been the only one who hadn't looked up when I came downstairs with Dimitri. Something was clearly wrong with her and I was willing to bet everything I owned on the chance that it was because Christian stormed out.

Nothing had really been official with the two, but everyone could see that they were in the first stages of becoming a couple. Well, it was only a matter of time before they sealed their relationship with a kiss…and maybe more.

Instinctively, I reached out and simply placed my hand on top of hers, knowing that the small action alone would be enough to make her feel a little better about the situation. "He'll see sense soon enough. Maybe he just needed some down time. Last night got pretty intense" I could tell by her eyes that she didn't full believe my logic, but she was touched at the fact that someone cared enough to even bother with telling her all of these things.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right" She lied as she gave me a smile that looked sad. After all of the years I have been friends with Lissa, she still tries to protect me from any depressing thoughts she might have.

"Hey, if you want I could go talk to him?" I suggested, willing to do anything to make Lissa's mood improve. The look on her face told me straight away that me going to find Christian to interrogate him was the last thing that she wanted, but I was still fully prepared to march out there.

"I'll go with her" Dimitri offered. "I'll make sure she's well behaved."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" I questioned, fixing him with a playful glare.

"Honestly, I'm fine" She sighed. "But I wouldn't mind if you went out there" Ah, Lissa was never subtle with her hints. With a joking role of my eyes, I stood up from the sofa and took Dimitri's hand in my own.

"We'll be back soon" I said as we moved quickly from the house. A quick blast from the cold air was all I needed to wake me up this morning. It felt as though the drinking I had done last night hadn't happened. "So, which way do you think he went?" I asked.

"Probably on his way home" Dimitri answered without missing a beat. His hand gripped mine tighter in an effort to warm me up before he dragged me in the direction away from Adrian's.

With Dimitri's brisk walking and strength in dragging me after him, we reached Christian in no time.

"Hey, Christian!" I called. His head snapped around to face me, probably not believing that we had managed to find him after his dramatic exit from the house. His eyes widened in surprise before he turned his back on us once more and continued walking away. Oh, he was going to try and make this even more dramatic than it already was.

"Look, I don't want to talk to you guys" He shouted back, stuffing his hands in the deep pockets of his jacket.

"Come on, we just want to make sure you're okay" Dimitri shouted back at him as Christian picked up his pace. After a hangover, the last thing I want to do is go chasing after Christian, but I'd do it if Lissa asked me to. God, how do I get myself in these situations!?

"I'm fine" He grunted, shooting us a look that told us clearly that it would be best if we just left it at that and let him get on with his own moods. It was a shame that he didn't know us well enough to understand that we don't always choose to do the easiest thing. "Now can you leave me alone?"

"No chance in hell, Ozera" I called, sounding as though the whole situation was boring me. He whirled on me and in a flash he was standing right in front of me with an anger in his eyes that I didn't think was possible to come from him. It was like staring into the depths of hell. I could see him clench his fists as he took a deep breath before spitting his retort at me.

"You don't have a clue what you're getting into" He spat, his face getting closer and closer to my own. "Do yourself a favour and get out while you can" I couldn't help it. I laughed. Right in his face.

"Oh please!" I exclaimed. "Please tell me that you're not trying to turn this into some sort of soap opera. God, you're like a queen at making this dramatic. That's right; you're a queen…because no guy would be acting this stupid right now"

"I killed Andre" He snapped, his eyes blazing even more. The laughter died right there on my lips as my brain spun with this new information. Of course it was Christian. How could I have been so stupid? I knew as soon as I saw him at school that I recognised him from somewhere. I just couldn't place where. Hell, when Andre was ran over, I could barely recognise Dimitri when he dragged me away from the wreck.

I thought that Christian was weird when I first met him. He apologised when we first talked properly for the first time. He wouldn't tell me anything else. He wouldn't tell me why he was sorry. At the time, I just placed it on the fact that he was nervous about joining a new school and that maybe he was just a little bit creepy. I could never have guessed that it was him who had killed Andre.

Last night, I made that comment about how he killed someone. I hadn't expected to be so right about it. All I wanted to find out was why he acted so weird around sometimes. I just wanted to understand why he could be so distant with the only friends he has. I was drunk. It's not like I actually believed that he had killed someone…which was why I was so confused as to why he was so offended by my comment.

He had been flirting with Lissa. Oh god, Lissa. How was she going to react when she found out who had killed her big brother!?

And in that split second that it took me to think of all of those things, Dimitri was on him. His fists clenched the material of Christian's shirt and pushed him hard against a wall. Almost as quickly as Dimitri had reacted, I was on _him. _

"Dimitri, stop!" I screamed, desperately trying to claw him off of Christian, but we all knew that Dimitri could win any fight.

"What the hell do you mean!?" Dimitri demanded. "Are you being serious?"

"Yes, it was me who ran him over" Christian admitted, looking deeply ashamed. Just like that, Dimitri ploughed his fist into Christian's jaw.

"Dimitri, please stop!" I pleaded. "You can't get yourself into any more trouble. Please, I love you!"

**God, that was dramatic. Again, I apologise for taking so long to update. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please review!**


	26. Chapter 26

Redemption

**I guess I kind of left it on a bit of a cliff-hanger on the end of the last chapter XD Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the reviews coming.**

**Lyrics: I've told you before, your tears don't fall. I've been here before, they crash around me.**

Chapter Twenty-Six

_Dimitri's point of view_

All that was running through my mind was thoughts of how pissed I was about Christian. How could he do that to Andre? How could he pretend to be my friend when he knew it was him who killed my brother!? All I wanted to do was lash out at him. It had been so long since the last time that I really lost my temper. When I was a kid, I was always known as the one you wouldn't want to mess with. Since then, I had managed to sort myself out and establish some level of control on my temper. The last thing that was going through my mind right now was control.

And then it all melted away. It was as soon as the words 'I love you' slipped from Rose's lips. Yeah, I may have dated a lot of girls in my time, but that's all it was. A couple of dates and then that would be it. It was always just a bit of fun...nothing serious. Not once in my life had a girl as sweet and beautiful as Rose told me that she loved me.

I stopped the attack on Christian and allowed my fists to drop to my sides as I turned to face Rose who seemed to be cowering away from me in fear. As soon as my eyes were on her, the look of anger seeped away and was replaced by a look of devotion.

"What did you just say?" I asked, my voice coming out in a croak as a smile rose to my face.

"I said I love you" She admitted, now standing in front of me with confidence. "I don't want you to get hurt and I don't want you to end up in even more trouble than we have been in lately."

The mention of Christian sparked that anger within me once again. It wasn't to the point where I felt as though I was going to start beating him up again, but it was enough for Rose to sense what she had just done.

"Well, what do you expect me to do?" I questioned as I looked at Christian with disgust who was pressing his hand against his lip that was bleeding profusely. "Rose, he killed Andre. Andre was your brother. How can you not be angry about this? How can you want him to get off free?"

"Believe me, I'm mad" She shot back. "I'm too mad for words right now, but smacking him in the jaw isn't going to solve anything. Neither is turning him in. Don't you think he's had punishment enough? He started off with apologising as he tortured himself with guilt. Honestly, I think he was intending to stay away from us…but then he met Lissa. I bet he never expected to fall in love with her. I bet he never expected her to fall in love with him either. But it happened. It was an accident, Dimitri. So, he's going to tell Lissa what happened and then she's going to decide what we do with him"

At her words, I finally calmed down enough to take two steps back. How could I be so selfish? Sure, I was pissed at this whole situation, but she was in the exact same boat as me. If she can manage to keep her cool at this, so can I.

"You're lucky I like you so much" I sighed.

_Rose's point of view_

He likes me. That's it. He likes me. God, how could I be so stupid? Of course he doesn't love me like I love him. Hell, we've barely been going out five minutes. I just thought that with all the history we had between us, he'd realise that what we had was real and serious. I guess I'm easily fooled.

"Nope, you're lucky I love you so much" He rectified, fixing me with a smug grin as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, a kiss then dropped on my head. And just like that, I flung my arms around his neck and pressed a rough kiss to his lips. Damn him, how could he do that to me? How could he make me believe that he only liked me?

"You're a foul prick sometimes" I hissed in his ear. "Do you know that?" I could feel his arms tightening at my waist as he allowed me to nuzzle into the crook of his neck.

"Of course I know that" He sighed blissfully as the wind chopped at the bare skin on our arms. "You know I love you, right? More than anything else in this world"

"Seriously, guys" A voice interrupted. Goodness, I'd completely forgotten that Christian had been standing there. I guess I'm easily distracted. "Can you two wait to do this until later? I've got something that I need to tell Lissa, remember?"

"You are in no position to tell us what to do" Dimitri snapped. It seemed as though it was going to take a hell of a lot more to get him to forgive Christian. "Come on, before I change my mind and turn you in."

The walk back to the house took longer than I thought it would. Even with Dimitri's fingers laced with mine, I couldn't shake the feeling of worry from my chest. This whole situation had to go completely wrong. Someone was going to reach their breaking point…I couldn't tell which one I would be most scared of: Dimitri or Lissa.

_Christian's point of view_

How on earth had I managed to get myself into this situation? I really thought that an apology would be the only reason I would have to speak to Rose and Lissa. Hell, I never once thought that I would end up falling for that girl. From the moment I first set eyes on her, I vowed to never let anything hurt her again. I couldn't stand the thought of her having to go through more than what she already had. As much as I wanted to keep her safe, it seemed that I was the one who was really causing her the most pain…and I was about to cause her even more.

Without a doubt, this was the hardest thing I had ever had to do in my life. I no longer cared about the consequences that I would have to face. They could drag me to prison and I wouldn't shed a tear or feel sorry for myself at all. I just couldn't stand the thought of facing the shame that they would all force onto me.

The door soon came into focus and my heart began to pound heavily in my chest. This was it. There was going to be no turning back now. It seemed that I was going to have to face the fears that I had been running away from for so long. There was no redemption for a guy like me.

"Thank God!" I heard a feminine voice exclaim before I saw Lissa running straight towards me. Her arms locked around my neck as she barrelled straight into me. God, this really was going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.

"Lissa, please don't" I grunted as I grabbed her wrists in my hands and pushed her away from me. I tried my best to ignore the look of hurt on her face. I couldn't allow her to present me with any affection…not when I was about to crush her.

"Christian, what's wrong?" She asked, only concern flooding her face and beautiful features.

"Look, I have something serious that I need to tell you" I sighed, pulling her down to sit on the doorstep with me as Rose and Dimitri watched from a distance. "I know that you're going to hate my guts as soon as you hear what it is" 

"Christian, I could never hate you" Lissa laughed as she leaned back against the door as though this was just a casual discussion about the weather.

"Lissa, please just listen to me" I whispered. "It's about Andre" At the mention of her brother, Lissa silenced immediately and her face took on a solemn quality. "When you said that the driver just left and never turned himself in…well, what I'm trying to say is that I was…the…driver" Her face now took on confusion.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. "You couldn't have been the driver…no…you couldn't possibly have been the driver"

"Lissa, I was the driver" I sighed. "I wouldn't lie about this"

"But you did" She interrupted. "You lied this whole time. You've been pretending that you liked me"

"No, none of that was a lie" I hastily shot back. I couldn't let her think that I had completely been a fraud. "Honestly, I really do like you. You're such an amazing girl. You're so sweet about everything and you're just so bubbly. How could someone not like you?" She said nothing. All she did was look at her shoes as though she was ready to burst out in anger. "Look, I know this is a long shot, but are you ever going to forgive me? Are you going to turn me in?"

She stood up and moved to the door. Just as she cracked it open, she turned back to face me. "I'm not going to tell anyone else about this. No, I'm not going to turn you in. I'm sure you've suffered enough with your guilt. Forgiving you is a completely different story. Maybe in time we can find a way to work through this. For now I need my space."

She took a step through the door. I knew I should leave it…shouldn't press matters when she was the fragile, but I just had to know.

"Lissa, why are you so understanding of this?" I asked. She looked thoughtful for a moment before answering me.

"It's not that I understand you" She began, biting her lip as though she didn't want to offend me even after all I had done to her. "I just know that Andre wouldn't want me to behave like a bitch when it came to you."

"But you're fully within your rights to" I reminded.

"That may be true" She answered, a glint of a smile on her face. Or maybe I was just imagining it. "But Andre still wouldn't think it was acceptable" With that said, she shut the door on me and left me to sit on the doorstop with Dimitri and Rose staring at me.

"You should go" Rose sighed as she approached the door with Dimitri by my side. I gave a curt nod before walking past them, meeting Dimitri's shoulder on the way.

"Don't you dare think that we're done talking about this" He warned, once again wrapping his arms around Rose as though she was his anchor. Oh god, I could hardly wait for Dimitri's chat with me. All I can hope for is that Rose is there to keep him calm. I guess it's no more than I deserve.

**Hmm, I guess this chapter isn't as long as the others. Even so, I managed to get it up a hell of a lot quicker than the last chapter. So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the reviews coming. The feedback on the last chapter was amazing!**


	27. Chapter 27

Redemption

**It seems that this story is nearing to a close, my lovelies. I reckon it's got a few chapters left in it, though. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please leave a review!**

**Lyrics: Is there a right way for how this goes? You've got your friends and you've got your foes. They want a piece of something hot. Forget your name like they forgot.**

Chapter Twenty-Seven

_Rose's point of view_

I was emotionally and physically drained. My head was already swimming off the alcohol that I had drank last night and the last thing I wanted was to talk to Christian more about the hit and run incident. I feared that if I did, my head would end up exploding or something just as drastic.

Quite frankly, all I wanted was to curl up in a ball and simply talk with Dimitri. Not about anything that had any significance in the here and now…but to just talk. I wanted to talk about the stupid things. I wanted to hear him call me a dork, but tell me that he loved me regardless. Yes, that was the kind of relationship that every girl craved, right?

I didn't want to hear Christian apologise.

"Okay, we get it" I snapped after hearing him say that darned word for the tenth time. "You're sorry"

"You don't get it, though" He persisted, causing my anger to boil even closer to bursting point. "You don't get how much the guilt has been tearing me apart" Oh, I think I had a pretty accurate idea as to how guilty he's been feeling right now.

The really tragic thing about this whole situation is that I really just want to forgive him and be his friend again…because Christian is one of a kind. Honestly, what he did was an accident. Do I really have the right to be pissed at him for making a mistake in his life? God knows I've made a hell of a lot of mistakes in the time that I've spent on this planet.

"So, what are we exactly doing here?" I questioned as I gestured to the coffee shop that we were sitting in, willing to do anything to keep my eyes away from Christian. I let them settle on Dimitri. After all, he was the one who claimed that he wanted to Christian about what happened.

"Were you drunk?" Dimitri asked abruptly. "When you were driving the car? Were you drunk?"

"No, not at all" Christian answered as though drink driving was preposterous. "I'm actually a good driver. I know that's probably hard for you to believe given the circumstances."

"No shit" Dimitri scoffed as his eyes fixed on Christian's. It was then that I knew that he was feeling the exact same way as me. Ever since Christian had come into the picture, Dimitri had felt like he could have a new friend. It was almost as though Christian had been acting as Andre's replacement. Now that he knew that it was Christian's fault that Andre had died, the guilt was destroying him. He had to know that there was a good enough for reason for Andre's death. "Well, what was it?"

"My dad's been ill" Christian began, looking as though the story pained him greatly. "_Was _ill. On the afternoon that Andre died, my dad was taken into hospital. We were all told that it seemed as though this was going to be the end for him. I jumped in the car and drove straight down there. When I was on the road, my phone rang. Obviously I thought it was going to be news about my dad. Christ, I only looked away for a second…but that was all that was needed…before I even got a chance to realise what had happened, my car had swerved, but I couldn't stop to see if he was okay. I had to get to my dad. I didn't run because I was a coward."

All I wanted was for him to stop talking. My eyes started to sting as I thought about the pain that he must have been going through right now in just telling us that story.

"Oh, but I didn't forget your faces" Christian said grimly. "Once my dad died in the hospital, I decided to take a walk…I didn't know that I'd see you guys again. I watched as you cried. All the while I knew that it was entirely my fault that you were going through that pain. I don't think I ever quite managed to get the sight of the nurses taking Andre down to the morgue out of my head."

And that was when the first of my tears spilled. For so long I had wanted to know what happened to Andre. I had wanted to know who was responsible for almost single-handedly destroying my life. Now that I knew, I didn't find it as satisfying as I thought I would.

Running on instinct, I extended my hand to take Christian's. He refused to make eye contact with my, but his hands engulfed mine as we shared that one simple touch. The touch that told us how we were both feeling. In that moment, we both realised that there was no point in being angry and unforgiving. What happened to Andre was over. Blame couldn't possibly help us get over his death.

With a helpless look, my eyes found Dimitri. Surely this story must have made him realise that Christian wasn't really a bad guy. All he was really doing was looking out for his dad. Who could blame him for that?

"I'm sorry you lost your dad" Dimitri finally sighed, clapping him over the shoulder in an awkward brotherly way. Well, it wasn't the best thing he could have done, but I was grateful for that show of emotion. In time it would get better.

_Christian's point of view_

It felt like a huge weight have been taken off of my chest. Finally, people were starting to see it my way. They were finally getting a glimpse of the real Christian. It didn't look as though Lissa really hated me and Dimitri was also beginning to understand what really happened.

Perhaps I wouldn't have to live my life in guilt like I thought.

I truly had hope that if I could show Rose that what happened wasn't entirely unjustified, perhaps I could get Lissa to see the same. When I told her what happened, she didn't seem too pissed at me. Maybe there was hope for the guys like me.

"So, what now?" I asked. It seemed weird to think that we were just going to go back to living our lives day by day after I had just made that huge revelation. Surely I couldn't just go back to being a normal teenager after finally getting rid of the guilt that had plagued me for weeks.

"Well, what else can we do now?" Dimitri questioned as a look of confusion swept over his face. I guess going back to normal wasn't as weird to him as it was for me.

"I don't know" I admitted. "How am I going to get Lissa to like me again?" Rose leaned forward as intrigue flashed in her eyes. All she really wanted out of this was to make Lissa happy once more. In the short time that I had known Rose, that was the first thing that I picked up. She wanted the best for Lissa and if that meant that she had to put herself last, she would do it.

"I don't think that's going to be as hard as you think" She sighed. "Let's face it, you told her what happened and she didn't slap you in the face. That's got to be something, right? Look, I was incredibly mad at you when we first came into this coffee shop. Once we actually let you explain what happened, we realised that it wasn't entirely your fault. Andre blundered into the road. If he hadn't been so careless, maybe that wouldn't have happened. You were both to blame. All you need to do is tell Lissa exactly what you told us and she'll understand."

The speech she gave was supposed to give me hope, but all it managed to do was force worry back into me. Throughout the whole story that I told Dimitri and Rose, I had wanted to cry about my dad's death. How was I supposed to do that in front of Lissa without becoming an emotional wreck? It was virtually impossible. Staring into those concerning eyes of hers, I knew that I would cry…maybe I wouldn't even be able to get my explanation out after all.

"That's easier said than done" I reminded her with a sad smile. Sympathy was all she could muster.

"Nobody said this was going to be easy" She said.

_Dimitri's point of view_

With Rose's words said, we stood up and finally left the coffee shop. We stepped out into the summer air, enjoying a light breeze as the sun washed over our skin.

"So, I guess we'll see you later" I said to Christian. He turned on me with a face of shock. "Oh come on, we can't babysit you" The shock soon fell from his face and a small smile replaced it.

"I'll see you later" He sighed back. I took Rose's hand in my own and led her towards my house. The idea of wrapping her up in my arms was simply too motivating.

"So, you love me, huh?" Rose chuckled as she leaned her head against my shoulder. "No one's ever said that to me before" I guess it was only a matter of time before we had the talk about what we said when she thought I was about to kill Christian. What if that was why she said it? What if she thought that that was the only way she could get me to stop attacking him?

"Did you only say that you love me to get me away from Christian?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't be too insulted by the accusation. I just had to know. To my surprise, she laughed. A wonderful, melancholic sound.

"I guess that's what made me say it. I think seeing you like that managed to pry it out of me" She began as my heart fell. Looks like I was right. "But that doesn't change the fact that I love you. I said it because it was true. It still is…seeing you like that just forced me to admit it. It was always there, though"

"I love you, Roza" I sighed, ecstatic to hear her put my worries at rest. "More than you could ever know. Just so you know, this is it. I'm not going to let us keep going back and forth like we were before."

"Thank God one of us had enough sense to say that" Rose laughed once more. "Hmm, remember when we used to hate each other? Did you really hate me or was that just an act?"

"Oh god, how could I forget" I scoffed as we walked through the front door of the house to find no one home. "Hmm, I don't think I really did hate you, you know. I was just feeling low and angry and I needed someone to take that out on. It just sucks that you were so readily available for me to shout at. It didn't help that you always argued back. There was something about that feisty attitude of yours that was just so damn attractive"

My lips found hers in a sweet kiss. Although it didn't last long, it conveyed so much. It showed us a fresh beginning. And my God, did it look like a bright future.

**Yep, definitely a cheesy way to end the chapter. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please keep the review coming! Have a great weekend! ;)**


	28. Chapter 28

Redemption

**Thanks to anyone who reviewed on the last chapter! Ah, this is going to be a sad day. This is going to be the last chapter of Redemption! So, really it's a big thank you to anyone who has ever reviewed on this story! Aw, I'm going to miss reading your reviews. Well, you can always message me if you want ;)**

**Lyrics: I know a thousand ways to help you forget about her. That bitch can eat her heart out. Love bites, but so do I.**

Chapter Twenty-Eight

_Lissa's point of view_

I sat alone at home on the sofa, my mind racing with everything I had just been told. Mum had gone shopping for new clothes and Rose was probably with Dimitri. I'd left the party soon after Christian had told me what he had done with the excuse that my head was hurting from how much I had to drink last night.

The curtains were drawn to a close and the all the lights were turned off as I pulled the blanket closer to my chin. Perhaps if I just stayed here, I would be able to keep the world out. I know it sounded crazy, but the idea sounded too appealing.

Just as I felt as though it was going to fall into a dreamless slumber, a knock at the door snapped me out of my dazed state. Groaning inwardly, I stumbled from the sofa and headed straight for the front door and yanked it open to see Christian standing awkwardly in the doorway.

A mix of emotions swelled inside me as my eyes rested on his crystalline blue orbs. Surprisingly, I didn't feel any hatred like I would have expected myself to. Instead, all I could feel was sympathy and a little anger.

"What do you want?" I finally asked as I crossed my arms over my chest in a defensive manner. "I thought I told you that I needed my space." It felt wrong and cruel to be this abrupt and cruel to Christian. After all, I had told him that Andre wouldn't want me to act like this.

"I just thought that maybe you want to hear the story of what really happened" He answered, playing with his fingers in a jumble of nerves. "I didn't want to unload all of it onto you at once."

Did I really want to know what happened that day? Ever since this morning, I had been moving on with his death quite well and was finally starting to find some closure. I was really starting to believe that ignorance was bliss.

But I couldn't leave the fact that I would finally get to find out what happened to my big brother. With that decision made, I pushed open the door further and stepped aside, so Christian could make his way through.

He moved with less confidence than normal, but he took a seat on the sofa regardless. He slipped underneath the blanket and held up the other side for me to crawl under. Reluctantly, I followed and took the seat next to him.

"I've got a feeling this could take a while to explain" Christian sighed. "My dad was very ill. It was bowel cancer and I knew that he didn't have long left. He was taken into hospital on the afternoon that Andre died. They told my mum that it looked as though this was the end for him. He wasn't responding to any of the medication they were giving him and he could barely string a sentence together. At that point, I wanted him to die. I couldn't handle the thought of watching him suffer any longer. It would have only been selfish of me to want him to sit through all of that pain for even longer."

"I'm really sorry to hear that, Christian" I whispered, my hand moving under the blanket to hold onto his own. The warmth that seeped from his skin to my own was undeniable.

"So, as soon as I found out that he was in hospital, I jumped straight in the car and sped straight to the hospital. It was when I was going past your school that my phone rang. I had to know if it was about my dad, so I went to answer it. Before I even knew it, I crashed into someone. I stopped the car and got out. Only Rose looked at me and I doubted that she was really seeing me. Then I remembered my dad and I got straight back into the car and drove off. I wasn't scared about what would happen to me. If I hadn't had to see my dad, I would have stayed for whatever punishment I was going to be given"

Tears were running down his face, but he ignored them completely as though there was only him and me in the world. As though telling this story which must be paining him greatly was the only thing that mattered in life. "I believe you, Christian" I said gently, hoping to coax him out of this depression.

"When I was in the hospital, I took a walk because it was all getting too much for me. God, I saw you run into the toilets with tears streaming down your face and I knew that all of that was my fault. Then I saw Rose run in there after you. I saw them take him down to the morgue. It was me who put him there, Lissa. It's all my fault" He cried. As soon as he finished, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and dragged him down to lie next to me with his head resting on my shoulder. The tears came freely to me too.

"Christian, it's not your fault" I whispered, pressing kiss after kiss to his dark hair. "Oh, Christian it could never be your fault. I forgive you." His arms encircled my waist as he pressed a kiss to my shoulder. God, I had missed being this close to him. As angry as I may have been at him, I had missed having him around.

"When I came to this school, all I wanted to do was apologise to you and then leave you to get on with your life…I never expected to fall in love with you" He mumbled. My heart pounded in my chest to the point where I was scared that he could hear it. I shifted slightly underneath him and he soon moved off me and looked straight into my eyes. "I really do love you, Lissa"

Before he got a chance to back away even further, I held his face in my hands and pulled him back to me, our lips connecting only very lightly, but enough for mine to tingle. His lips were wet from the tears, but still felt warm to touch. His arms encircled me once more before dragging me over to sit on his lap.

"So, what are we then?" He finally asked as he pressed his forehead against my own. The question raced through my mind before I realised that I didn't actually have an answer for it. What were we? Christ, does anyone really know who they are.

"We're just two kids that are trying to make it in this world. We were dealt a bad hand, but we're going to try to make it better." I began to explain. "Simply put: we don't know what we are."

"Hmm, it makes sense" Christian chuckled. "I'll just settle for being your potential boyfriend."

"Yeah, I'd like that" I sighed, allowing him to take me in his arms once more.

_Rose's point of view_

"How do you think Lissa and Christian are getting on?" I asked Dimitri, taking a seat on his bed as he put some music on. "Do you think she's going to forgive him?"

"Of course she'll forgive him" Dimitri answered as though it was common knowledge, sitting next to me. "Now can we stop talking about Christian for just one moment."

"Why?" I questioned, not being given another chance to speak because his lips were on mine. Ah, that familiar taste of his lips was enough to get anyone high. And goodness was I enjoying the intoxication. "Oh, that's why" I mumbled in between kisses as he lowered me further down on the bed, his hands resting on the pillow at either side of my head much like they did when I was almost passed out at the party. If his kisses at the party were even half as good as the kisses he was delivering now, it was a wonder how I didn't die.

"Yeah, that's why" He laughed, his hands trailing down the my hips and gripping tightly. If it was anyone else, it would have hurt like hell, but Dimitri managed to find a way of making it feel loving and sexy. "I've been waiting to do that ever since the party."

"Was it worth the wait?" I asked sweetly, biting my lips to hold the laughter back. Some of his hair had fallen from the ponytail and was now hanging at the sides, framing his tanned face perfectly as he stared down at me with something that I couldn't quite place in his eyes. Love? Desire? Who ever really knew when it came to Dimitri?

"It would be worth waiting one million years for a kiss like that" He commented as his hand caressed my cheek with a grace that was fit for an angel. How could someone so tall and menacing find a way to be romantic and cute?

"How did we get here?" I asked, as though my mouth had been taken over by someone else. Why did I have to interrupt moments by talking? His hand never stopped caressing my face, though. "It feels like everything's gone by so quickly. It was like one moment we hated each other and the next we could barely keep our hands off each other…how could two people be so confusing?"

"God knows" Dimitri laughed. "Half the time we didn't even make sense to me. It helps that you're so hot. I could never resist sweetness"

"Shut up" I chuckled, playing with his hair in my hands. "I'm glad that we worked everything out" His lips pressed against my forehead before he lay down next to me, clasping his hand in my own.

"Nobody ever thought we were going to make it, you know?" Dimitri sighed. "They all thought we were just carrying on like teenagers and that we'd eventually go our separate ways because we were too argumentative. We showed them, huh?"

"Aw, is my Dimitri turning into a hopeless romantic?" I questioned.

"You know it, Roza" He whispered, pressing one more kiss to my cheek.

**Okay, so that chapter was shorter than the others, but it's all good. So, what did you guys think? Was it a good ending? Aw, I'm seriously going to miss writing this! Anyway, like I said you guys can always message me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please tell me if you liked the story on a whole XD Thanks for reading!**


End file.
